Chandigarh: In a major embarrassment for the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government, cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has been found to be in charge of a department that went out of existence in 2012.
The department of administrative reforms, of which Dhaliwal has remained minister for the past 20 months, was replaced by the department of governance reforms in 2012 when the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine came to power in the state for the second consecutive time. It is now known as the department of good governance and information technology and is currently headed by cabinet minister Aman Arora.
As the Opposition had a field day slamming the government, Dhaliwal told media persons Saturday that only the chief minister can respond. “I am only a soldier of the party and carry out duties which are assigned to me,” he said.
The Punjab BJP took potshots at Dhaliwal, saying he’d been a minister of an “imaginary department” for several years, an example of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) “good governance. State Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring sarcastically wrote on X: “What a ‘Badlaav’!”
Senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia meanwhile called the Mann government “extraordinarily incompetent”.
Apart from the “administrative reforms” portfolio, Dhaliwal also heads the NRI affairs department, a rather active ministry in Punjab which has a substantial NRI population settled abroad.
When the Bhagwant Mann government took over in March 2022, Dhaliwal was made the agriculture minister as well, but the portfolio was taken away from him in a cabinet reshuffle in May 2023.
While retaining the NRI affairs department, he was given charge of the administrative reforms department. When another reshuffle took place in September last year, his departments were not changed.
Sources close to the minister said it was Dhaliwal himself who realised that he had not headed any meeting of the administrative affairs department, nor had any secretary approached him with any file work. His inquiries led the state government to realise the anomaly and correct it.
Chief Secretary KAP Sinha issued a hurried notification on 21 February that stated, “In partial modification of Punjab Government Notification No. 2/1/2022-2Cabinet/2230 dated September 23, 2024, regarding allocation of portfolios amongst the Ministers, the Department of Administrative Reforms earlier allotted to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Cabinet Minister is not in existence as on date.”
Also Read: Post-Delhi loss, AAP begins ‘operation clean-up’ in Punjab. 52 cops dismissed in a day, 400 more on radar
The department that was
Sources in the Mann government told ThePrint that the department of administrative reforms existed till 2012. As part of administrative reforms undertaken by the Badal government, in 2009, a ‘Punjab State Governance Reforms Commission’ under governance reforms expert Dr Pramod Kumar was set up by this department. The commission recommended that the department of administrative reforms be replaced by a department of governance reforms.
The department of governance reforms was notified in 2012 by then governor Shivraj Patil and the department of administrative reforms ceased to exist.
The department of governance reforms was tasked with administrative reorganisation and streamlining of administration, implementation of reports of administrative reforms commissions, improvement in office procedures and systems and formulation of policies regarding maintenance and retention of records. However, most significantly, its role was to implement e-governance in all departments, and administer the Right to Information Act.
When the Congress came to power in 2017, under Capt Amarinder Singh, the department of governance reforms became the nodal department to oversee the working of the ‘Governance Reforms and Ethics Commission’ set up under former chief secretary KR Lakhanpal. Later the commission was headed by VK Garg, a former Indian Revenue Service officer who had remained financial adviser to the Punjab government under Amarinder.
Oppn roasts Mann govt
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri commented that such a thing is possible only under a government run by the Aam Aadmi Party.
#WATCH | Delhi | On Punjab Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal’s running a ‘non-existent’ department, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri says, “He was heading a department for 20 months which is ‘non-existent’. Such a thing can happen only under the leadership of AAP government.” pic.twitter.com/AV0bHcXm8N
— ANI (@ANI) February 22, 2025
Meanwhile, the Punjab BJP’s X handle posted: So, Bhagwant Mann’s government gave a ministerial portfolio that NEVER EXISTED for 21 months! Kuldeep Dhaliwal was “minister” of an imaginary department with NO meetings, NO staff, and NO work—just a title on paper. This is AAP’s “good governance”? Punjab deserves better than this circus!
So, Bhagwant Mann’s government gave a ministerial portfolio that NEVER EXISTED for 21 months! Kuldeep Dhaliwal was “minister” of an imaginary department with NO meetings, NO staff, and NO work—just a title on paper. This is AAP’s “good governance”? Punjab deserves better than… pic.twitter.com/Afn4tWsWGk
— BJP PUNJAB (@BJP4Punjab) February 22, 2025
Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa told PTI, “You can make an opinion with these positions about what kind of government is this. After three years, the government is coming to know that a department is not existing. A minister is there. Such a worthless CM, bureaucracy, and minister I had never seen. It is unfortunate. Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal have cheated the people of Punjab. You can imagine what will be our future.”
VIDEO | As a minister headed a non-existent department, Punjab LoP Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) says, “You can make an opinion with these positions about what kind of government is this. After three years, the government are coming to know that a department is not… pic.twitter.com/4Kj7O41Fr7
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 22, 2025
SAD’s Majithia told media persons Saturday: “This only goes on to show what kind of government is running the state. They allotted a ministry which did not exist.”
BJP’s Pradeep Bhandari slammed the AAP for a “mockery of governance” in Punjab.
He wrote on X, “AAP has made Governance in Punjab a joke! The AAP Minister ran a department for 20 Months that never existed! Imagine that for 20 months, the CM did not even know that a minister was running a NON EXISTENT DEPARTMENT.”
The last cabinet reshuffle in the Punjab government was in September 2024 when CM Bhagwant Mann dropped four ministers and inducted five fresh faces into his cabinet, besides reallocating portfolios.
Tarunpreet Singh Sond, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Ravjot Singh, Hardeep Singh Mundian, and Mohinder Bhagat took oath as ministers at Raj Bhavan.
Mann retained eight ministries, including Home Affairs & Justice, Legal & Legislative Affairs, and Sports & Youth Services.
Harpal Singh Cheema got four ministries, including Finance, Planning, and Excise & Taxation, while Aman Arora got five ministries, including New & Renewable Energy Sources and Employment Generation & Training.
Dr Baljit Kaur got two ministries, including Social Justice Empowerment & Minorities, while Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal got NRI Affairs and ‘Administrative Reforms’.
Dr Balbir took charge of Health & Family Welfare, Medical Education & Research, and Harjot Singh Bains got Technical Education and Industrial Training, Information & Public Relations, and two other departments.
Harbhajan Singh got the Power and Public Works (B&R) departments.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Delhi gone, Kejriwal to work on ‘Punjab Model’ of governance
