Malda Zilla Parishad is the top level local self government body of three tier set up of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) constituted under the provision of West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973 in the district of Malda.

It looks after the implementation of schemes and programmes for development of rural areas taken up by 15 Panchayat Samities (middle level local self government body) and 146 Gram Panchayats (lowest level local self government body), extends technical support to and supervision of works taken up by lower level local bodies wherever needed. Since Zilla Parishad has strong engineering setup, it gives technical support to other Government departments and also acts as an implementing agency for other departments, wherever needed.

District Magistrate is the Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad. Malda Zilla Parishad body is constituted by 34 members from Zilla Parishad Constituencies elected through Panchayat General Election along with ex-officio members viz. Sabhapaties from 15 Panchayat Samities, MLAs from 12 Legislative Assembly Constituencies and MPs from 2 Parliamentary Constituencies.

As a local self government body Malda Zilla Parishad gets financial assistance and grants from both Central and State Government. It has some own sources of generating revenue like: rent of its Guest Houses, Community Halls, Market Complexes, lease rent of Ferry Ghats, Fruit Orchards, Ponds, fees from Mela license, vetting charges, sale of tender papers etc.

Every year Malda Zilla Parishad prepares Annual Action Plan of schemes taken up by all the three tiers of PRI, prepares budget for the upcoming financial year and submits the same to Panchayat and Rural Development Department, Government of West Bengal for approval and sanction of financial assistance thereon. After getting financial sanction from State Government, Zilla Parishad starts implementing schemes to meet the infrastructural requirement of rural areas of Malda District.