It took the Punjab Government nearly 20 months to realize that a department assigned to one of its senior ministers never actually existed.
In a notification issued today, the government acknowledged that the Department of Administrative Reforms, allocated to Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, was “non-existent.” As a result, Dhaliwal will now hold charge of only the NRI Affairs Department, as reported by ANI.
Governor issues revised notification
The Punjab Governor recently issued a revised notification clarifying ministerial portfolios. It states: “In partial modification of Punjab Government Notification No. 2/1/2022-2Cabinet/2230 dated 23.09.2024, 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.”
Dhaliwal originally held the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare portfolio, but was relieved of it in a May 2023 Cabinet reshuffle. Since then, he has retained the NRI Affairs Ministry alongside the now non-existent Administrative Reforms Department. Even in the September 2024 Cabinet rejig, both portfolios remained with him—until now.
Government sources revealed that no staff was ever allocated to the minister for Administrative Reforms, nor was any meeting ever held under this department. Despite repeated attempts, Dhaliwal was unavailable for comment.
BJP, Akali Dal slam AAP government
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government over the revelation. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari ridiculed the oversight, stating, “Imagine—for 20 months, the CM did not even know that a minister was running a NON-EXISTENT DEPARTMENT.”
BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya went further, calling it a sign of Punjab’s governance crisis, “If it took nearly 20 months to realize this blunder, you can imagine the state of Punjab’s government. Arvind Kejriwal is a charlatan who must be banished from public life.”
Even Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal joined the attack, blaming AAP’s Delhi-based leadership for the debacle, “Ministers don’t even know their own portfolios because governance is controlled remotely from Delhi.”
With Dhaliwal being the fifth senior-most minister in Punjab after CM Bhagwant Mann, Harpal Cheema (Finance), Aman Arora (New & Renewable Energy), and Dr. Baljit Kaur (Social Justice), the revelation has sparked a political storm.