Administration of Shimoga district is headed by the Deputy Commissioner of the district. There are various officials both at the district level and at the taluk level to assist the Deputy Commissioner in the task of administration. They include the Assistant Commissioners (Sub Divisional Magistrate), Tahsildars, Shirstedars, Revenue Inspectors and Village Accountants. The Collectorate consists of various branches headed by the Srishtedars who are responsible for the supervision, guidance and overall management of work in their branch. Every branch consists of First Division Assistants and Second Division Assistants among whom all work of the branch is divided.

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. The Office of the Deputy Commissioner deals with a variety of functions.

These different function areas are broadly divided into the following categories.
Administrative Section: it deals with all the matters relating to vacancies, appointments, pay and allowances, transfers and promotions, postings, retirements, personal deposit accounts, audit reports, DC diary and 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 & Medium towns), Water supply schemes, Housing schemes and Slum Area Development.

Muzarai Section: This section deals with construction & 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, issue of income and caste certificates, House Rent Control (HRC) and other miscellaneous matters of Revenue Department.

The Shimoga Zilla Panchayat is a body that has been constituted under the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act, 1993. The Panchayat Raj Act provides for a 3- tier structure of Panchayats. The Zilla Panchayat forms the apex institution at the district level. Each of the seven taluks in the Shimoga district has the Taluk Panchayat, where again the members are directly elected from the people, and which has a similar administrative structure headed by the Executive Officer (EO). At the lowest level there are the Gram Panchayats which are having jurisdiction over a group of villages so notified. The Zilla Panchayat is a body corporate that has been given a legal status. The prime role of the Zilla Panchayat in the task of administration is to deal with the 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. The Chief Executive Officer is appointed by the state government to carry out the administration of the Zilla Panchayat. He is the head of department of the various departments that have been established within the Zilla panchayat. The Chief Executive Officer is assisted in the discharge of his duties by senior officers in the Zilla panchayat. They include the Deputy Secretary (Development), Deputy Secretary (Administration), Chief Accounts Officer, Chief Planning Officer, Project Director.

The administration of Shimoga district is thus carried out according to a systematised structure.