Administration of the East Godavari district is carried out in keeping with the norms of district administration. Accordingly, the Collectorate plays a pivotal role in district administration. The entire district is headed by a collector in the cadre of IAS officer.

He acts as the District Magistrate for maintaining law and order within his jurisdiction. The role of the Collector is mainly to deal with planning and development, law and order, scheduled areas/ agency, general elections, arms licensing etc.

The Joint Collector who also belongs to the IAS Cadre runs the administration of revenue under various enactments in the district. He is also designated as the Additional District Magistrate. His function is mainly to deal with civil supplies, land matters, mines and minerals, village officers etc.

Assisting the collector and Joint Collector in discharging their duties is the District Revenue Officer (DRO). He is responsible for looking after all the branches of the collectorate. He mainly deals with general administration and is vested with supervision of day-to-day functions of the Collectorate.

An administrative officer in the rank of a Tahsildar acts as general assistant to the Collector. He directly supervises all the sections in the Collectorate and most of the files are routed through him.

According to the Administrative reforms taken up by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Collectorate is divided into 8 sections. For the purposes of easy reference, an alphabet is given to each section.

Listed below are these different sections along with their corresponding alphabets.
1. Section A: Deals with Establishment and Office Procedure
2. Section B: Deals with Accounts and audit.
3. Section C: Deals with Magisterial (Court/Legal) matters.
4. Section D: Deals with Land Revenue and relief.
5. Section E: Deals with Land Administration.
6. Section F: Deals with Land Reforms.
7. Section G: Deals with Land Acquisition.
8. Section H: Deals with Protocol, Elections and Residuary work

Sub Divisional Office
For the purposes of administrative convenience, the entire region is divided into 5 sub-divisions. A sub division is headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer in the rank of a Deputy Collector or a Sub-Collector in the cadre of the IAS. He is the Sub Divisional Magistrate having jurisdiction over his division. He is assisted by an administrative Officer in the Cadre of a Tahsildar. The Sub divisional Offices are a replica of the Collectorate in the matter of number of sections. They act as a kind of intermediary in the entire administrative set-up. There are 81 divisions in Andhra Pradesh, each consisting of a few mandals whose performance is constantly being monitored by the concerned divisional office.

Mandal Revenue Office
Sub divisions are also found in the mandals. East Godavari District Consists of 60 Mandals. A Mandal is headed by the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO). The MRO is vested with the same powers and functions as that of the Tahsildars of the erstwhile Taluks, including magisterial powers. The Mandal Revenue Office is headed by the Mandal Revenue Officer. He provides the interface between the government and public within his jurisdiction. He initiates welfare measures within his jurisdiction. The MRO assists the higher authorities in collecting information and conducting inquiries. He provides feedback to the district administration that helps in decision-making at higher levels of administration.

The deputy Tahsiladar supervises the day-to-day functions of the MRO`s office and deals mainly with general administration. Most of the files are routed through him. He monitors all the sections in the MRO`s office.

The Mandal Revenue officer assists the MRO in conducting enquiries and inspections. He supervises the Village Secretaries. He inspects the crop fields (Azmoish), writes Sharas (field inspection details) in Pahani, collects land revenue, non-agricultural land assessment and other dues and keeps close watch on the villages within his jurisdiction to maintain law and order.

The Assistant Statistical Officer (ASO), who is under the overall control of Chief Planning Officer at the District and Directorate of Economics and Statistics at the State Level, maintains data related to rainfall, crops and population. He conducts crop estimate tests. He inspects crops to submit crop condition details. He prepares periodical reports on births and deaths and assists the MRO in conduct of livestock census, population census and other surveys taken up by the government from time to time. MRO sends reports on above items to the District collector. Later these are sent to the department of economics and statistics and planning department at government level.

The Mandal Surveyor, who belongs to the Survey Settlement and Land Records Department, assists the MRO in survey operations. Chain Man assists Mandal Surveyor in his duties.

As per the administrative reforms the various sections in the MRO Office are:
1. Section A: Office procedure and financial activities
2. Section B: Land Related activities,
3. Section C: Civil Supplies, Pension Schemes etc.
4. Section D: Establishment, Natural Calamities,
5. Section E: Issue of Caste, income, nativity etc certificates.