Districts of Kerala

Kerala State has been divided into 14 districts, 21 revenue divisions, 14 District Panchayats, 63 taluks, 152 Block Panchayats, 1466 revenue villages, 978 Grama panchayats, 5 corporations and 60 municipalities.

A district is governed by a District Collector, who is an officer from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of Kerala cadre and is appointed by the State Government of Kerala. Functionally the district administration is carried on through the various Departments of the State Government each of which has an office of its own the district level. The District Collector is the executive leader of the district administration and the District Officers of the various Departments in the district render technical advice to him in the discharge of his duties. The District Collector is a key functionary of Government having large powers and responsibilities. He has a dual role to both as the agent of the Government of the state and also as the representative of the people in the district. He is also responsible for the maintenance of the law and order of the district.

Other than urban units such as town municipalities and rural units called Gram panchayats, other government administrative subdivisions includes taluks and ‘community development blocks’ (also known as CD blocks or blocks panchayats). A taluk consists of urban units such as census towns and rural units called gram panchayats. The Tahsildar in charge of each taluk is primarily the Revenue Official responsible for the collection of revenue of the taluk, but he is also expected to be in direct contact with the people at all levels and to have first hand knowledge of the conditions of every village under his jurisdiction. The Tahsildar is assisted in each village by village officers and village assistants. A block also consists of such as census towns and Gram panchayats. A block is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO), who is appointed by the Government of Kerala. A gram panchayat, which consists of a group of villages, is administered by a village council headed by a Gram Panchayat President.

A District Superintendent of Police, better known as a Superintendent of Police, heads the District Police organization of Kerala Police. This is as per the Police Act of 1861, which is applicable to the whole of India. The Superintendents of Police are officers of the Indian Police Service. For every subdivision, there is a Subdivision Police, headed by a Police officer of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police or Deputy Superintendent of Police. Under subdivisions, there are Police Circles, each headed by an Inspector of Police. A Police Circle consists of Police Stations, each headed by an Inspector of Police, or in case of rural areas, by a Sub-Inspector of Police.

The Kerala High Court has the jurisdiction of the state of Kerala. Each of the districts has a District Court.

History

Alleppey district was carved out of erstwhile Kottayam and Kollam (Quilon) districts on 17 August 1957. The name of the district Alleppey was changed as ‘Alappuzha’ in 1990. In 1982, Pathanamthitta district was newly constituted taking portions from the then Alappuzha, Kollam and Idukki districts. The areas transferred from the erstwhile Alappuzha district to Pathanamthitta district are Thiruvalla taluk as a whole and part of Chengannur and Mavelikkara Taluks.

Alphabetical listing