Governance

Governance and administration

Tamil Nadu had a bicameral legislature until 1986, when it was replaced with a unicameral legislature, like most other states in India.

The 'Governer' is the Constitutional head of the state while the 'Chief-minister' is the head of the government and the head of the council of ministers. The Chief-Justice of the Chennai high-court is the head of the judiciary. The present Governer, Chief-minister and the Chief-Justice are S. S. Barnala, M. Karununanidhi and A. P. Shah respectively. The major administrative units of the state constitutes 39 Lok Sabha constituencies, 234 Assembly constituencies, 30 districts, 7 municipal corporations, 152 municipalities, 561 town panchayats and 12,618 village panchayats.

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state in E-Governance initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are already digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies - All the Corporations and Municipal Office activities - revenue collection etc, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerized, thereby improving the quality of service and transparency in operations.