Administration of Dharwad district is the overall responsibility of the Deputy Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner's office comes under the revenue department which looks after the overall administration and maintenance of law and order of the district. The Collectorate consists of various branches headed by Srishtedars/ Deputy Tahsildars or managers who are responsible for supervision, guidance and overall management of work in their respective branches. Every branch consists of first Division Assistants and Second Division Assistants among whom all the work of the department is divided.

The department deals with implementation of Agrarian reforms act like Land Reform Act and various related acts like Village Office Abolition Acts. It also deals with distribution of surplus land to poor tenants, agricultural labourers etc. The department is responsible for acquisition of land for public purposes like irrigation projects, power projects etc. It also processes various requests for grant of land to individuals and organisations. The department also administers Department of Survey and settlement and Department of Stamps and Registration. Broadly speaking, there are various sections of the Deputy Commissioner's Office which deal with the various functions. These are:

Administrative Section: Which deals with the matters relating to vacancies, appointments, pay and allowances, transfers and promotions, postings, retirements, CCA (Classification, Control and Appeals), Personal Deposit Accounts, Audit Reports, DC Diary and Business Statistics.

Revenue Section: This section deals with jamabandi, DCB (Demand Collection and Balance), Land Grants, Land Acquisition, Land Conversion, PTCL, Appeals, Land Reforms cases, Mines and Minerals and Regularisation of encroachments.

Election Section: This section deals with Election matters pertaining to Loksabha, Vidhansabha, Vidhanparishat, all local body elections such as Grama Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat, Zilla Panchayat, Municipalities, APMC, and other co-operative institutions.

Municipal Section: This section deals with all Municipal matters including service matters, progress made under various schemes like SJSRY (Swarna Jananthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana), IDSMT (Integrated Development of Small and Medium towns), Water supply schemes, Housing schemes and Slum Area Development.

Muzarai Section: This section deals with construction and renovation of Muzarai temples, appointment of Dharmadarshies and payments to Archaks' (Tasdik and annuity) salary, Aradhana Schemes.

Census Section: This section deals with census matters.

Judicial Section: This section deals with judicial matters such as Law and Order (Section 144 etc.,) issue of licenses for Arms and Ammunitions and Cinemas.

Miscellaneous Section: This section deals with NSAP, OAP, PHP, MPLAD and other Schemes. It also deals with meeting statistics, PWD works, and issue of income and caste certificates, House Rent Control (HRC) and other miscellaneous matters of Revenue Department.

There are various officials both at the district level and at the taluk levels to assist the Deputy Commissioner. They include the Assistant Commissioner (Sub-Divisional Magistrate), Tahsildars, Shirstedars/Deputy Tahsildars, Revenue Inspectors and Village Accountants. The Deputy Commissioner Court deals with cases pertaining to Revenue Appeals, Revenue Miscellaneous ( KLR Act, 1964 ), Prohibition of transfer of Certain Lands cases ( PTCL Act,1978 ) and inam cases( Inam Abolition Act ). One SDA and Manager of Judicial Branch assist the D.C by doing back-office work.

For the purposes of rural administration, the Dharwad district also has a Zilla Panchayat. The Dharwad Zilla Panchayat is a three-tier Panchayat system with elected bodies at the Grama, Taluka and district levels constituted as per the 73rd amendment to the constitution for greater participation of the people and more effective implementation of rural development programs (and to function as units of local self government). The Zilla Panchayats were constituted as per the provisions of The Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993. The Zilla panchayat structure and activities are listed below.

Dharwad Zilla Panchayath is an elected body constituted of the following members: 1. 22 Members are elected from geographically demarcated constituencies from within the rural areas of the district.
2. 2 Members of Parliament of the district.
3. Members of State Legislative Assembly and State Legislative Council for the district.
4. The Adyaksha of five Taluk Panchayats of the district.

To facilitate greater discussion in the functioning of zilla panchayat, 5 standing committees have been formed. For smooth functioning and administration of the zilla panchayat office, an officer designated "Chief Executive Officer" is appointed by the state government to carry out administration of Zilla Panchayat. Chief Executive Officer is designated head of department for all the department offices within the Zilla panchayat. He is assisted in the discharge of his duties by Senior Officers in the Zilla Panchayat. These include the Deputy Secretary, Chief Planning Officer and Chief Accounts Officer. The Zilla Panchayat deals with a number of different functions which broadly deal with development, administration, planning, accounts and council section.