INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION–MGT111 VU

LESSON 12

STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT

At the end of the lecture the students will be able to understand:

1. The Concept of Rules of Business
2. The structure of government which comprise ministries, divisions, attached department
3. What are functions? An example of one of the ministry/division will be given explain functions of
a ministry:

In the last lecture the structure of government was explained as per article 91(1) of the constitution.
The cabinet is headed by the Prime Minister who is the Executive head of the government. It has been
stated that the president is the Head of the State and the prime minister helps him in decision making and it
is the Prime Minister who is responsible for running of government. Thus, the structure of government can
be understood from Figure A and Figure B. Figure A shows the relationship of the Constitution with the
legislature which comprise the National and Provincial assemblies and the Senate. That is the Constitution
gives the structure, formations, functioning and methods of these institutions. Then, as shown in figure B
the constitution also provides for the structure, functions and operations of the three branches of
government i.e. legislature, judiciary and executive. It is mentioned here that while the Constitution provides
broad framework of government, the operational level functioning are regulated by the specific Acts which
have to be placed before the legislature and approved.

Structure of Government
Figure A

Constitution

National Provincial
Assembly Assembly

Senate

Figure B

Constitution

National/Provincial The Executive

Assemblies

Courts

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Organization Chart of Government
As mentioned earlier that the president is the head of the State and Prime Minister (PM) is the head
of Executive is shown in the Figure. The PM heads the Cabinet and the Cabinet comprises ministers. The
number of Ministers keeps varying. Some time it is 29; sometime 16 and sometimes 39. These ministers
head the ministries.

President
Head of the State

Prime Minister
Chief Executive

Cabinet
Comprising Ministers (39)

Rules of Business
The question that can arise is, how ministries work. The Constitution of the country under Article
90-99 states the formulation of ‘Rules of Business’. This means that Rules have to be framed for the
working of the ministries and divisions. What is Business? ‘Business’ means all work done by the Federal
Government, and the Federal Government means all the ministries, divisions and attached departments and
autonomous bodies etc. Thus Rules of Business explain the responsibilities of the Secretary who heads the
division. It also delineates the ministries and the division/department under each ministry. Just as there are
Rules of Business for the Federal government, there are Rules of Business for the provincial governments

Ministries of Federal Government (39)

Although it has be stated that in 2004 there are 39 ministries, but only the list of few selected
ministries is given below:

1. Cabinet Secretariat
2. Ministry of Commerce
3. Ministry of Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs
4. Ministry of Communication
5. Ministry of Defence Production
6. Ministry of Finance & Revenue
7. Ministry of Information & Technology
8. Ministry of Interior
9. Ministry of Housing and Works

The Cabinet Secretariat, is the Secretariat of the Cabinet, which maintain all its paper work.
Ministries cited above are indicative of the kind of work that government do.

Structure of Ministry
It would be in the fitness of things to first define ministry A Ministry is Division or Group of
Division. The Division is entrusted with one task: For example: Ministry of Finance has divisions. The
division are shown in the Figure are Finance Division, Economic Affairs Division, statistics Division and
Revenue Division.

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Figure

Ministry of Finance

Finance Division Revenue Division

Economic Division Statistics Division

The Ministry of Finance oversees the work of all these Divisions. To further understand the
responsibilities of these Divisions, for the purpose of illustration we look at the functions of Finance
division and Economic Affairs Division.

Main Functions of Finance Division:

The main functions of the Finance Division are as follows:

1. Finances of Federal government and financial matters affecting the whole of the country
2. The Annual Budget Statement & supplementary/excess Budget to be placed before the National
Assembly
3. Allocation of shares of proceeds from the taxes collected by the Federal Government
4. Public debt of the Federation both internal and external
5. Currency, coinage, and legal tender Pakistan Security Printing Corporation and Pakistan Mint
6. Regulatory functions pertaining to Banking sector, Stock exchanges, foreign currency, etc.

Main Functions of the Economic Affairs Division

The main functions of the Economic Affairs division are as follows:

1. Negotiations with the foreign governments and organizations pertaining to economic assistance,
requirement
2. Matters relating to technical assistance to foreign countries
3. Review and appraisal of international and regional economic trends and its impact on national
economy

Organization of Finance Division

How is Division structured? Or who Heads the Division. As we know a ministry may have more
then one Division, so the Minister is the political head (usually a politician) he/she provides policy
guidelines to the Ministry. The division is headed by Secretary, who is a career civil servant (Figure 1).

Figure 2 gives the simplified structure of Finance. Secretary Finance head of the Division and Joint
Secretary (JS) (expenditure & Administration), JS (Budget) and JS (Finance) help the Secretary in day to day
working.

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Figure 1

Minister for
Finance

Special
Advisor
Assistant

Secretary Secretary Secretary

Finance Revenue Division Economic Affairs

Figure 2

Secretary
Finance

Joint Secretary Joint Secretary Joint Secretary

(Exp & Adm.) (Budget) (Finance)

Attached Departments
Secretary Finance sits in Islamabad, but the Ministry of Finance has its offices all over Pakistan. For
example finance division military would be in Rawalpindi. The Central Directorate of Savings has its office
all over the country.

An attached department is administratively under the control of Ministry of Finance. Some of the
attached departments are as follows:

- Finance Division Military

- Office of the Controller General of Pakistan
- Auditor General of Pakistan
- Central Directorate of Savings

Autonomous Bodies under Ministry of Finance

Following are the Autonomous Bodies of Ministry of Finance:

• Monopoly Control Authority

• Nationalized Commercial Banks
• Pakistan Security Printing Corporation

Autonomous bodies are not administratively controlled by the ministry. These bodies have their
own Board of Governors. In this way they do not receive directives from the ministry

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Conclusion

By now structure for government should be fairly clear. The Federal executive branch comprises of
ministers who head 39 ministries. The Federal Secretaries of the ministries assist the ministers in
formulation of policies, execute the policy, write proposal for legislation to be submitted to the cabinet, and
keep the minister informed. The Minister is responsible for the working of the Division and in the question
answer sessions of the National Assembly he answers the questions raised on the working of the Ministry in
the Assembly.

Concepts

ˆ Cabinet: A group of ministers working under the guidance of

Prime Minister
ˆ Rules of Business: Rules that explain the working of government
ˆ Ministry: A group of more than one Division.
ˆ Division: A unit assigned with a task e.g. Finance Division
ˆ Functions: Work to be performed by the Division
ˆ Autonomous Body: An organization that has its own Board of governors that
sets policy for it. Autonomous Bodies are more
independent in decision making.

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