The Punjab state has constituted various new boards and commissions in the state. Among them following are some of the important boards and commissions are being constituted by the state government.

Punjab Public Service Commission :

• Joint Public Service Commission, the precursor of the Punjab Public Service Commission, with its writ running from the Khyber Pass to the Jamuna near Delhi, was born at Lahore on May 1,1937.
• In the wake of the partition, the Punjab Public Service Commission resurged in February, 1948, at Shimla with its revised jurisdiction extending over the then province of East Punjab. Following the merger of the states of Punjab and PEPSU, it shifted to Patiala on 1st November, 1956.
• On 1st November, 1966, its territorial jurisdiction again decreased due to the formation of the states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.The Present Chairperson of Commission is Lt. Gen. Narinder Pal Singh Hira, AVSM, SM (Retd.).

Punjab Governance Reforms and Ethics Commission (PGREC):

• The Congress government in the state has abolished the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission (PGRC) constituted by the previous SAD-BJP regime in January 2009 and re-constituted in 2012.
• The government has instead brought in new commission - Punjab Governance Reforms and Ethics Commission (PGERC), which has a wider role and five-year tenure. The notification to abolish the previous commission and constitute the new one was issued by the state government on 17 November, 2017. It will focus on citizen-centric governance reforms and promote ethics in governance.
• According to the terms of reference, the commission will examine and give its recommendations on all proposals received from departments, boards and corporations for projects worth over Rs 50 crore. It shall examine aspects of governance and make recommendations for the consideration of the government. These aspects include fiscal consolidation, including fiscal prudence, additional resource mobilisation and improving the quality of public expenditure. The commission shall also be responsible for ensuring transparency and accountability in delivery of public services to citizens.
• The new Commission will be headed by former Punjab Chief Secretary and 1972- batch retired IAS officer K R Lakhanpal as Chief of the new commission. The previous commission was headed by political analyst and researcher Pramod Kumar.
• The commission will also have three ex Officio members, including Chief Secretary, Administrative Secretary of Governance Reforms and Finance Secretary.

Punjab State Revenue Commission :

• The Punjab government has notified a six-member Revenue Commission with the aim of bringing greater efficiency and accountability in functioning of the Revenue Department. The Commission will be headed by Justice (Retd.) S.S. Saron of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Ranjit Singh (Retd.) Commission of Inquiry :

• Rubbishing the Justice Zora Singh Commission report, Chief Minister had constituted Justice Ranjit Singh (Retd.), Commission of Inquiry to inquire into an incidents of sacrilege of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Srimad Bhagwad Gita ji and Holy Quran Sharif ji in the State of Punjab since 2015.
• The commission has been mandated to look into all matters of sacrilege including the Kotakpura incident in Faridkot, which led to the death of two persons. Justice Ranjit Singh, a retired judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court, has been mandated to look into the inconclusive investigation done by the police officers after the incidents took place.
• As many as 110 pages of Guru Granth Sahib, stolen from the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in June that year, were found torn off outside a Gurudwara. Following this, about 122 incidents of sacrilege were reported in the State from 2015, with the maximum reported from Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, that are continuing till date, coupled with widespread protests across the state. In one of the major protests, two Sikh protesters were killed in police firing on October 14, 2015, at Behbal Kalan village near Faridkot.
• The one-man Commission has completed its probe into the first incident of sacrilege reported from Bargari village in Faridkot district on October 12, 2015.

Justice Mehtab Singh Gill Commission to review False cases:

• The Punjab government has set up a Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Mehtab Singh Gill, to review allegedly false cases/ FIRs in the state of Punjab during the last 10 Years and submit its report to the government after such inquiry. The two-member Commission has former District and Sessions Judge B S Mehandiratta as member. The Commission has been appointed under The Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952.
• Till date, out of 4,213 complaints received by the commission, it has examined 1,074 complaints out of which 746 have been dismissed. The commission has recommended action on 328 complaints. Since its inception, the commission has submitted seven interim reports to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Six Member Committee to examine the recommendations of Expert Group 2014 :

• Punjab chief Minister announced the constitution of a 6-member Oversight Committee, headed by eminent historian Prof. Kirpal Singh, to examine the recommendations of the 2014 panel that had reviewed the History syllabus and to oversee all history books in the future.
• Besides Prof. Kirpal Singh, the committee shall comprise former Vice Chancellor Guru Nanak Dev University Prof. J.S. Grewal, former Pro-Vice Chancellor GNDU Prof. Prithipal Singh Kapur, Emeritus Prof. of History Panjab University Prof. Indu Banga, besides two eminent historians to be nominated by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.
• The committee has been mandated to consider and report on the recommendations of the Expert Group constituted by the Punjab School Education Board in 2014, to review the changes made in the new History syllabus prescribed for classes XI and XII subsequent to the recommendations of the Expert Group, and to suggest corrections, if any.
• The Committee has been further asked to examine the contents of the text books prescribed for classes XI and XII and to suggest corrections for factual and other errors, if any, and to align, as may be practicably possible, the History syllabus with that prescribed by the NCERT. Apart from these, the committee has also been directed to exercise oversight over the syllabus and contents of textbooks prescribed for History for all classes in the Punjab School Education Board and to ensure that there are no factual discrepancies. The Punjab Government has decided to hold back the further release of the Class XII history book till the newly constituted Oversight Committee examines it.
• The committee has recommended replacing controversial Punjab School Education Board history textbooks for Class 11 and 12 from the next academic session. According to the the committee, facts were distorted in the books, particularly with the use of wrong language bus had to be and that the entire syllabus had to be changed for the 2019-2020 academic session to correct the mistakes.

Cabinet Sub-Committee on Sand Mining submits report to Chief Minister :

• A Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chairmanship of the Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu (Other two members are: Finance Minister Mr. Manpreet Singh Badal and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa) for the purpose of formulating a comprehensive policy with regard to sand mining submitted its report to the C.M. Now, the State Cabinet would take a final decision on the recommendations made by the committee.
• The committee found that Punjab has stock of sand for coming 100 years and that of gravel for 170 years. The committee has recommended the fixation of prices of sand at Rs. 1000 per 100 cubic feet. One trolley has 100 cubic feet capacity weighing four tones. It has also found that earlier there was no price fixation for sand and the supply was also lacking resulting in people getting sand at exorbitant prices owing to breaking of supply chain. The Cabinet sub-committee keeping in view the existing deposits of sand and gravel has now recommended lowering of sand prices and going in for their fixation at certain level.
• As per the recommendations, there would be no dearth of supply with people getting sand at a fixed price that would be much less than the earlier price.
• The committee has found that the total length of all the rivers in Punjab comes to 1150 KM with 500-Meter (Half KM) width. Total area is 575 Square Kilometer. As per the statistics of the Government of India 32 lakh tones of sand can be mined from a 1 Square Kilometer area having 10 feet depth. Similarly, in Punjab 184 crore tones of sand can be mined from the 575 Square Kilometer area. The mining of sand every year from the rivers leads to more sand getting accumulated in them from the mountains. The demand in Punjab of sand is 2 crore tones per year. That makes Punjab having an abundant stock of sand for next 91 years. It is also worth mentioning that owing to the origin of rivers of Punjab from Himalayas, the quality of sand is far better than the sand mined from Godavari river.
• The committee came to know that rocky dunes exist in 30 KM area in kandi region with total area coming to 500 Square Kilometres. According to the statistics of the Government of India, 30 feet depth in 3 Square Kilometer area can fulfill the demand of Punjab for a whole year and 1 crore tones of sand can be mined from the 500 Square Kilometer area which has the potential to fulfill the demand for corning 170 years.

Cabinet Sub - Committee Unauthorized Occupations :

• Expressing concern over the illegal occupation of government property in villages and towns across the state, the Punjab Cabinet on set up a Sub-Committee under the Chairmanship of Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
• Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa are other members of the committee.
• The sub-committee has been tasked with the identification of unauthorized occupation. It will also suggest ways to get such properties vacated from the unauthorized occupants.

Foreign Employment Bureaus :

• The state government has decided to open Foreign Employment Bureaus in areas where the maximum number of people were found to be migrating from Punjab to U.K.
• The Bureaus would be tasked with creating awareness among the people about the opportunities available in various countries based on their educational qualifications.
• They would also apprise the People of ways and means to upgrade their skills to facilitate their legal migration into the UK. This would help in stopping illegal migration and in helping people go abroad through legal methods by providing legal assistance.

Real State Regulatory Authority (RERA) :

• Punjab Government has set up the Real State Regulatory Authority (RERA) to ensure the speedily resolution of grievances of citizens with regard to various colonization and to make the functioning of the real estate sector more transparent and trustworthy.

Punjab State Urban Advisory Board :

• The Punjab Government has constituted the Punjab State Urban Advisory Board for user charges to periodical review the rates of property tax, levy and other fees, as required under the norms/milestones given in the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
• Additional Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary/ Secretary Local Government Punjab (Administrative Secretary) would be Chairman of the Advisory Board. Mayor, Municipal Corporation Jalandhar, Mayor of Patiala Municipal Corporation, Commissioners of Municipal Corporations of Ludhiana and SAS Nagar would be members of the Board.
• Besides one person each having knowledge and expertise in the fields of law/Municipal Administration, Valuation of property and Accountancy and Engineering & Urban Planning would be nominated as member in the board by the State Government. Director Local Government Punjab would be the Member Secretary of the Punjab State Urban Advisory Board.

Punjab State Horticulture Marketing Board :

• The State Government has decided to set up a Horticulture Marketing Board for Punjab State to promote marketing of horticulture produce.
• The Punjab State Horticulture Board will be set up on the lines of Punjab State Agriculture Marketing Board to promote development of Citrus, Guava, Litchi & Pear fruits.