Government of Leonistria

The Government of Leonistria (often abbreviated as LoG; also known as the Central or His Majesty's Government) is the national administrative authority of the Kingdom of Leonistria, an Absolute Monarchy located in North America, consisting of 48 provinces and territories. Under the Constitution, there are three primary branches of government: the legislative (Parliament), the executive (Prime Minister, Government, & Council of Ministers) and the judiciary (Supreme Court), whose powers are vested by the Constitution in the Parliament, and courts respectively.

Etymology and history

The State Regency Council, which was the provisional government, was the predecessor of the Government of Leonistria.

Basic structure

The government of Leonistria is modelled after the Westminster system but under an absolute monarchy. The Central government is mainly composed of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary, and powers are vested by the constitution in the prime minister, parliament, and the supreme court, respectively. The King of Leonistria is the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the Leonistrian Armed Forces, whilst the elected prime minister acts as the head of the executive and is responsible for running the Central Government. The parliament is unicameral in nature with the National Council as the only house. The judiciary systematically contains an apex supreme court, high courts, and district courts, all inferior to the supreme court.

The basic civil and criminal laws governing the citizens of Leonistria are set down in major parliamentary legislation, such as the civil procedure code, the penal code, and the criminal procedure code. Similar to the Central Government, individual state governments each consist of executive, legislative and judiciary branches. The legal system as applicable to the Central and individual state governments is based on the English common and statutory law. The full name of the country is the Kingdom of Leonistria. Leonistria is the short name for the Kingdom of Leonistria in the Constitution, and both names appears on legal banknotes, in treaties and in legal cases. The terms "Central government" is often used officially and unofficially to refer to the government of Leonistria. The term Kingston is commonly used as a metonym for the Central government, as the seat of the central government is in Kingston.

Legislature

The powers of the legislature in Leonistria are exercised by the Parliament, a unicameral legislature consisting of the National Council.

The parliament does not have complete control and sovereignty, as its laws are subject to judicial review and scrutiny by the Supreme Court and the Royal Court. The National Council can be dissolved by decree by the King.

Executive

The executive of government is the one that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is critical.

King as Prime Minister

The executive power is vested mainly in the King of Leonistria, as per Title IV of the constitution. The King has all constitutional powers and exercises them directly.

The council of ministers remains in power during the 'pleasure' of the King.

The King is responsible for appointing many high officials in Leonistria. These high officials include the governors of the 48 provinces and the other judges of the supreme court and high courts on the advice of other judges; the attorney general; the comptroller and auditor general; the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners; the chairman and members of the Central Board of Civil Service; the officers of the All Leonistria Services (GAS, GFoS and GPS) and Central Civil Services in group 'A'; and the ambassadors and high commissioners to other countries on the recommendations of the Council of Ministers.

The King, as the head of state and government, also receives the credentials of ambassadors from other countries and is in charge of Government Affairs

The King is the Supreme Commander of the Leonistrian Armed Forces.

The King of Leonistria can grant a pardon to or reduce the sentence of a convicted person once, particularly in cases involving the punishment of death.

The Central Government Secretariat complex houses the Prime Minister's Office, Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Defence, and others.

The Prime Minister of Leonistria, as addressed in the Constitution of Leonistria, is the chief executive of the government and the leader of the National Council. The prime minister leads the executive of the Government of Leonistria.

The prime minister is the senior member of the cabinet in the executive government in a parliamentary system. The prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet; allocates posts to members within the Government; is the presiding member and chairman of the cabinet and is responsible for bringing a proposal of legislation. The resignation or death of the prime minister dissolves the cabinet.

The prime minister is appointed by the King to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the executive.

Crown Prince

The First Deputy Prime Minister is the second-highest constitutional position in Leonistria after the King. The Crown Prince of Leonistria is always the First Deputy Prime Minister. The First Deputy Prime Minister represents the nation in the absence of the King and takes charge as acting King in the incident of health reasons or others. The First Deputy Prime Minister also has the legislative function of acting as the President-General Pro Tempore of the National Council.

Cabinet, ministries and agencies

The organizational structure of a department of the Government of Leonistria. The Central Council of Ministers includes the prime minister, Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State (MoS). Each minister must hold a bachelor's degree or higher in their respective fields. They also may be a member of Parliament. The cabinet is headed by the prime minister, and is advised by the cabinet secretary, who also acts as the head of the Leonistrian Administrative Service and other civil services. Other members of the council are either Central cabinet ministers, who are heads of various ministries; or ministers of state, who are junior members who report directly to one of the cabinet ministers, often overseeing a specific aspect of government; or ministers of state (independent charges), who do not report to a cabinet minister. Every minister shall have the right to speak in, and to take part in the proceedings of, either house, any joint sitting of the houses, and any committee of parliament of which he may be named a member but shall not be entitled to a vote in the house where he is not a member.

Secretaries

A secretary to the Government of Leonistria, a civil servant, generally an His Majesty's Administrative Service (HMAS) officer, is the administrative head of the ministry or department, and is the principal adviser to the minister on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry/department. Secretaries to the Government of Leonistria rank 23rd on Leonistrian order of precedence. Secretaries at the higher level are assisted by one or many additional secretaries, who are further assisted by joint secretaries. At the middle they are assisted by directors/deputy secretaries and undersecretaries. At the lower level, there are section officers, assistant section officers, upper division clerks, lower division clerks and other secretarial staff.

Prime Minister’s Office
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of Law & Justice
Ministry of Environment, Forests & National Parks, and Climate Change
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Ministry of Labor & Employment
Ministry of Health, Alternative Medicine, & Human Services
Ministry of Housing & Urban Developmental Affairs
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Veterans Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Ministry of Energy
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers
Ministry of Civil Aviation
Ministry of Coal
Ministry of Communications
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Earth Sciences
Ministry of Science & Technology
Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology
Ministry of Religious Affairs
Ministry of Culture, Sports, and the Arts
Ministry of Public Enlightenment & Truth
Ministry of Morality, Ethics, and Integrity
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying, & Fisheries
Ministry of Food Processing Industries
Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Ministry of Waters
Ministry of Minority Affairs
Ministry of Alternative, Renewable, & Sustainable Energy
Ministry of Subnational Administrative Affairs
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, & Pensions (Under the direct authority & supervision of the PM)
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Ministry of Planning (Under the direct authority & supervision of the PM)
Ministry of Ports, Shipping, & Waterways
Ministry of Power
Ministry of Rural Development
Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
Ministry of Steel
Ministry of Textiles
Ministry of Tourism
Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Ministry of Women & Child Development
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports

Cabinet Rank Independent Agencies of the Prime Minister's Office

PMO Chief of Staff
Environmental Protection
Office of Management & Budget
Trade Representative
Commission to the United Micronations & Nations
Economic Advisers Council
Office of Moral & Ethical Policy
Atomic Energy Administration
Space Administration

Civil services

The Civil Services of Leonistria are the civil services and the permanent bureaucracy of Leonistria. The executive decisions are implemented by the Leonistrian civil servants.

The ultimate responsibility for running the administration rests with the appointed representatives of the people which are the ministers. These ministers are accountable to the Sovereign & the Legislatures. The ministers are indirectly responsible to the people themselves. But the handful of ministers is not expected to deal personally with the various problems of modern administration. Thus, the ministers lay down the policy and it is for the civil servants to enforce it. The Ministerial Code is followed at all times.

Cabinet secretary

The cabinet secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of Leonistria. The cabinet secretary is the ex-officio head of the Central Board of Civil Service, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Leonistrian Administrative Service (IAS) and the head of all civil services under the rules of business of the government.

The cabinet secretary is generally the senior-most officer of the Leonistrian Administrative Service. The cabinet secretary ranks 11th on the Leonistrian order of precedence. The cabinet secretary is under the direct charge of the prime minister. Presently, the Cabinet Secretary of Leonistria is Rajiv Gauba, IAS.

Judiciary

The Supreme Court of Leonistria consists of the associate justices, including the King who is the Chief Justice. Unlike its United States counterpart, the Leonistrian justice system consists of a unitary system at both state and Central levels. The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of Leonistria, high courts at the state level, and district courts and Sessions Courts at the district level.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Leonistria is situated in Kingston, the capital region of Leonistria. The King is the Chief Justice along with 10 other advisory justices.

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal under the Constitution of Leonistria, the highest constitutional court, with the power of constitutional review. Consisting of the Chief Justice of Leonistria and 9 other advisory, it has extensive powers in the for of original, appellate and advisory jurisdictions.

As the final court of appeal of the country, it takes up appeals primarily against verdicts of the high courts of various states of the Central and other courts and tribunals. It safeguards fundamental rights of citizens and settles disputes between various governments in the country. As an advisory court, it hears matters which may specifically be referred to it under the constitution by the King . It also may take cognisance of matters on its own (or 'suo moto'), without anyone drawing its attention to them. The law declared by the supreme court becomes binding on all courts within Leonistria and also by the Central and state governments.

In addition, the constitution gives an extensive original jurisdiction to the supreme court concerning enforcing fundamental rights. It is empowered to issue directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari to enforce them. The supreme court has been conferred with power to direct the transfer of any civil or criminal case from one state high court to another state high court, or from a Court subordinate to another state high court and the supreme court. Although the proceedings in the supreme court arise out of the judgment or orders made by the subordinate courts, of late the supreme court has started entertaining matters in which the interest of the public at large is involved. This may be done by any individual or group of persons either by filing a writ petition at the filing counter of the court or by addressing a letter to the Chief Justice of Leonistria, highlighting the question of public importance for redress. These are known as public interest litigations.

Provincial and local governments

Provincial governments in Leonistria are the governments ruling states of Leonistria and the chief minister heads the state government. Power is divided between Central Government and state governments. All provincial legislatures are unicameral

Local governments function at the basic level. It is the third level of government apart from Central and state governments. It consists of village councils headed by a Baron who is the Chief in rural areas and municipalities headed by a Viscount who is the Lord Mayor in urban areas.

Finance

Taxation

Leonistria has a three-tier tax structure, wherein the constitution empowers the Central Government to levy income tax, tax on capital transactions (wealth tax, inheritance tax), sales tax, service tax, customs and excise duties and the state governments to levy sales tax on intrastate sale of goods, taxon entertainment and professions, excise duties on manufacture of alcohol, stamp duties on transfer of property and collect land revenue (levy on land owned). The local governments are empowered by the state government to levy property tax and charge users for public utilities like water supply, sewage etc. More than half of the revenues of the Central and state governments come from taxes, of which 3/4 come from direct taxes. More than a quarter of the Central Government's tax revenues are shared with the state governments.

The tax reforms, initiated in 1991, have sought to rationalize the tax structure and increase compliance by taking steps in the following directions:

Reducing the rates of individual and corporate income taxes, excises, and customs and making it more progressive
Reducing exemptions and concessions
Simplification of laws and procedures
Introduction of permanent account number (PAN) to track monetary transactions
21 of the 29 states introduced value added tax (VAT) on 1 April 2005 to replace the complex and multiple sales tax system

The non-tax revenues of the central government come from fiscal services, interest receipts, public sector dividends, etc., while the non-tax revenues of the States are grants from the central government, interest receipts, dividends and income from general, economic and social services.

Inter-state share in the Central tax pool is decided by the recommendations of the Finance Commission to the King.

Total tax receipts of Centre and State amount to approximately 18% of national GDP. This compares to a figure of 37–45% in the OECD.

Central budget

The Finance minister of Leonistria usually presents the annual Central budget in the parliament on the last working day of February. However, for the F.Y. 2021–22, this tradition had been changed. Now the budget will be presented on the 1st day of February. The budget has to be passed by the National Council before it can come into effect on 1 April, the start of Leonistria's fiscal year. The Central budget is preceded by an economic survey which outlines the broad direction of the budget and the economic performance of the country for the outgoing financial year

Leonistria's non-development revenue expenditure had increased nearly five-fold in 2003–04 since 1990–91 and more than tenfold from 1985 to 1986. Interest payments are the single largest item of expenditure and accounted for more than 40% of the total non-development expenditure in the 2003–04 budget. Defence expenditure increased fourfold during the same period and has been increasing to defend from a difficult neighbourhood and external terror threats. In 2020-21, Leonistria's defence budget stood at ₹4,71,378 crores (US$65.86 Billion).