Punjab took 20 months to realise minister held non-existent department

After 20 months , the Punjab government realised that one department did not exist. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and minister in the Punjab cabinet, was heading two departments-the Department of Administrative Reforms and NRI. The Punjab government has scrapped the so-called Department of Administrative Reforms after issuing a gazette notification. The last cabinet reshuffle in Punjab took place in September 2024 when Mann inducted five new ministers and dropped four. The state cabinet has a total of 16 ministers, including the Chief Minister. sources said that the Administrative Reforms Department had no staff, no meetings, and no programmes. Officials admitted that the department was existed only on paper.

Punjab minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal to hold the portfolio of NRI Affairs only. Department of Administrative Reforms, which was earlier allocated to Dhaliwal, is no longer in existence, as per the Punjab government Gazette notification. pic.twitter.com/3oX8vMVJ20

— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2025

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the AAP-led Punjab government over the issue, questioning how a minister was allowed to run a non-existent department for nearly two years. "AAP has made Governance in Punjab a joke! The AAP Minister ran a department for 20 Months which never existed! Imagine for 20 months the CM did not even knew that a minister was running a " NON EXISTENT DEPARMENT," BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said.