The tribal areas in the State have well-defined administrative units. The ITDP Kinnaur comprises the whole district; the ITDP Lahaul comprises tehsil Lahaul and tehsil Udaipur and the rest of the three ITDPs are by the name of Spiti, Pangi and Bharmour(Now sub-tehsil Holi and tehsil Bharmour) comprise tehsils by the same name. In terms of CD Blocks, ITDP Kinnaur consists of three Blocks namely Kalpa, Pooh and Nichar and the rest of the four ITDPs are constituted of one C.D. Block each by the name of Lahaul, Spiti, Pangi and Bharmour respectively.

The pattern of administration in the tribal areas as also in the rest of the Pradesh had been identical except that in April, 1986, the ITDP Pangi was put under the charge of an officer of the rank of Resident Commissioner and all offices there were merged with his office and he was made Head of Department for every department in the State so that he was the epitome of ultimate authority in the ITDP area and inter-alia, single-line administration was established between the ITDP on the one side and the Government on the other. He exercises powers of Commissioner for revenue matters and that of District Magistrate in Pangi sub-division. ACRs initiated/reviewed by him were to be sent by him direct to the concerned Administrative Secretary in respect of gazetted officers and he was the final accepting authority in relation to non-gazetted establishments. He was made disciplinary authority in respect of all non-gazetted establishment and also vested with powers of imposing minor penalty with respect to gazetted officers. He was also delegated full powers to accord administrative approval and financial sanction for all works. This experiment was a great success and there was demand from the public representatives for introduction of such type of administration in other ITDPs also and, accordingly, single-line administration has now come to prevail in all the ITDPs alike with effect from the 15th April 1988. This arrangement has cut down delays and improved the delivery system.

Under the new pattern of administration in the tribal areas effectively from 15th April, 1988, the specified authorities in the ITDPs are as under:

	ITDP	Specified Authority
	Pangi	Resident Commissioner Pangi at Killar
	Kinnaur	Deputy Commissioner, Kinnaur at Reckong Peo
	Lahaul	Deputy Commissioner , Lahaul-Spiti at Keylong
	Spiti	Additional Deputy Commissioner, Spiti at Kaza
	Bharmour	Additional District Magistrate ,Bharmour

Officer at serial No. 2 to 5 enjoy all powers previously enjoyed by the Resident Commissioner, Pangi. In addition to this divisional officers and also the circle-level officers were made to enjoy one-step up powers.