Administration of Chikmagaular district is carried out in keeping with the administrative stipulations of the Mysore division. Chikmagalur District comes under Mysore Division. The District is divided into seven taluks and the headquarters of these taluks are located at Chikmagalur, Kadur, Tarikere, Mudigere, Koppa, N.R.Pura and Sringeri. These taluks are grouped into two Revenue Sub-Divisions viz., Chikmagalur Revenue Sub-Division and Tarikere Revenue Sub-Division. Chikmagalur Revenue Sub-Division comprises of the taluks of Chikmagalur, Mudigere, Koppa and Sringeri, while Tarikere sub-division has jurisdiction over the taluks of Kadur, Tarikere and Narisimharajapura.

The Office of the Deputy Commissioner is located at Chikmagalur city. The Deputy Commissioner who is also the District Magistrate is the functional head of the District and exercises the powers and duties conferred and imposed on him under the Land Revenue Act and other acts in force. Assistant Commissioners for each sub-division and Tahasildars for each taluka work under the control and Supervision of the Deputy Commissioner. They perform all the duties and exercise the power conferred on them under the Land Revenue Act and other various acts.

The office of the Superintendent of Police, Chikmagalur district is functions in the departmental building which is located in the heart of the city. Maintenance of law and order, prevention of crime and maintenance of traffic are the main duties of the Superintendent of Police.

For convenience in District administration, the entire division has been divided into 3 sub-divisions. Each sub-division is headed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police. Again each sub-division has been divided into Police Circles. Each circle is headed by Circle Inspector of Police. Under each circle Police Stations function. Each Police Station is headed by Police Sub-Inspector (PSI), assisted by Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Head Constables (HC) and Police Constables (PC). Recently some town Police Stations have been upgraded with Police Inspector as SHO of the Station. These are under the direct control of Deputy Superintendent of Police of respective sub-divisions.

Zilla Panchayat Office is located in the outskirts of Chickmagalur town in the midst of beautiful mountains. It is located in the Kadur - Mangalore main road (KM Road) 5 kms away from town towards Kadur. The office is spread over an area of 5 acres of land. The Zilla Panchayat building is a newly built one in the year 1991 and got inaugurated on 01-01-1992. The Zilla Panchayat office has two structures - one is the main building and the other one is general meeting hall which is built in the year 1999.

Chickmagalur Zilla Panchayat is a body constituted under the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993. The Zilla Panchayat is a body corporate and is assigned a legal status. The Zilla Panchayat is entrusted with execution of development schemes, providing civic functions in rural areas and looking after the duties of the government delegated in respect of certain departments as per the schedule of the Act.

Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) is the head of the Zilla Panchayat. For the smooth and efficient functioning of various departments coming under Z.P., he is assisted by senior officers in the Z.P such as Deputy Secretary (Administration), Assistant Secretary (Administration Project Director (D.R.D.A.) Chief Planning Officer, Manpower and Credit Planning Officer Deputy Secretary (Development) Assistant Secretary (Development) Chief Accounts Officer and Accounts Officer.