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The Government of Bihar, known locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Bihar and its 9 divisions which consist of 38 districts . It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Bihar, a judiciary and legislative branches. # ISO certification in India

Like other states in India, the head of state of Bihar is the Governor, appointed by the President of India on the advice of the central government. The head of state is largely ceremonial. The Chief Minister is the head of government and is vested with most of the executive powers. Patna is the capital of Bihar.# ISO certification in India

The Patna High Court, located in Patna, has jurisdiction over the whole state. The present legislative structure of Bihar is bicameral. The Legislative houses are the Bihar Vidhan Sabha (Bihar Legislative Assembly) and Bihar Vidhan Parishad (Bihar Legislative Council). Their normal term is five years, unless dissolved earlier.# ISO certification in India

Executive

Governor

Main article: Governor of Bihar

See also: Governor (India)

The Governors of the states of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the President of India at Union level. Governors exist in the states while lieutenant governors or administrator exist in union territories. According to the Constitution of India, the Governor is a state’s head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister. The governor acts as the nominal head whereas the real power lies with the Chief ministers of the states and his/her councils of ministers. The Governor of a State is appointed by the President of India. The factors based on which the President evaluates the candidates is not mentioned in the Constitution. In his ex-officio capacity, the Governor of Bihar is Chancellor of the universities of Bihar (at present 12) as per the Acts of the Universities.

Chief Minister

Main article: Chief Minister of Bihar

See also: Chief minister (India)

In the Republic of India, a chief minister is the elected head of government of the each state out of 28 states and sometimes a union territory (currently, only the UTs of Delhi and Puducherry have serving Chief Ministers). Following elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, the governor usually invites the party (or coalition) with a majority of seats to form the government. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. Given that he has the confidence of the assembly, the chief minister’s term is for five years and is subject to no term limits.# ISO certification in India

In 1946 First Cabinet of Bihar formed; consisting of two members, Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha as first Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha as Bihar’s first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister (also in charge of Labour, Health, Agriculture and Irrigation). Other ministers were inducted later. The cabinet served as the first Bihar Government after independence in 1947. From 1946, 23 people have been Chief Minister of Bihar. The inaugural holder was Sri Krishna Sinha of the Indian National Congress, he also has the longest incumbency. The current incumbent is Nitish Kumar who is having incumbency since 22 February 2015.# ISO certification in India

Deputy Chief Minister

Main article: Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar

Despite being not mentioned in the constitution or law, the Deputy-Chief minister office is often used to pacify factions within the party or coalition. It is similar to the rarely used Deputy-Prime minister post in Central government of India. During the absence of the Chief minister, the deputy-CM may chair cabinet meetings and lead the Assembly majority. Various deputy chief ministers have also taken the oath of secrecy in line with the one that chief minister takes. This oath has also sparked controversies.# ISO certification in India

Ministry

See also: Eighth Nitish Kumar ministry

The government is headed by the governor who appoints the chief minister and his council of ministers. The governor is appointed for five years and acts as the constitutional head of the state. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and his council of ministers in whom a great deal of legislative powers is vested.. The secretariat headed by the secretary to the governor assists the council of ministers. The council of ministers consists of cabinet ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The chief minister is assisted by the chief secretary, who is the head of the administrative services.# ISO certification in India

Legislature

State governments in India are the governments ruling states of India and the chief minister heads the state government. Power is divided between union government and state governments. State government’s legislature is bicameral in 6 states and unicameral in the rest. Bihar is one of the six states where bicameral legislature exists. Other states are Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Bihar Legislative Council is Vidhan Parishad serves as the upper house and Bihar Legislative Assembly is Vidhan Sabha serves as the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Bihar. Lower house is elected with 5 years term, while in upper house 1/3 of the total members in the house gets elected every 2 years with 6-year term.# ISO certification in India

Vidhan Sabha

Main article: Bihar Vidhan Sabha

See also: Vidhan Sabha

The Vidhan Sabha is also known as Legislative Assembly. The Bihar Legislative Assembly first came into being in 1937 and not a permanent body and subject to dissolution. The tenure of the Legislative Assembly is five years from the date appointed for its first sitting unless dissolved sooner. Members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by the people. There are three sessions (Budget session, Monsoon session, Winter session) every year. The Sessions of Legislative Assembly are presided by Speaker. The Speaker certifies that whether a bill is ordinary bill or money bill. Generally he does not participate in voting but he casts his vote in the case of tie. The current strength of the House is 243.# ISO certification in India