State Secretariats in India play a major role in the administration of the state. They are the principal advisers to the Minister, who is the head of the department(s) under their charge. In case of administration at the state level, the Governor is the head of the state. He is appointed by the Indian President for a 5 -year term. He is advised by a Ministry called the Council of Ministers of India, which is headed by the Chief Minister. In practice, the Governor is only the constitutional head, and the real repository of power is the Ministry, with the Chief Minister at its head. The Ministry is a part of the state legislature in India. The work of the government is allocated to the Ministers, by assigning one or more departments or a part of a department to him. However, it is usual for a Minister to be in charge of a number of departments, dealing with more or less allied subjects. He is a political head of the department, whose administrative head is a Secretary. The Secretary is the Secretary of the Government as a whole, and not of any individual Minister. He is normally a generalist civil servant, but in case of Public Works Department (PWD), the chief engineer is usually the Secretary. The number of secretariat departments is usually greater than the number of Secretaries. The practice normally is to entrust more than one department to the charge of one Secretary.
Departments of State Secretariats in India
A department consists of the office and the officers. The officers are Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary and/ or Assistant Secretary. There may also be Additional and Joint Secretaries in larger departments. Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and Under Secretaries are all (except those belonging to the Secretariat Civil Service) subject to the well-known tenure system and are appointed to the secretariat for a fixed term. The only exception to the tenure system is the Chief Secretary. The office comprises of the Superintendent (or Section Officer), Assistants, Upper Division Clerks, Lower Division Clerks, Steno-Typists, and Typists. Unlike officers, the office constitutes a permanent element in the secretariat system.
The number of departments of secretariats varies from state to state in India, ranging between 11 and 34. Most states have secretariat departments like the General Administration, Home, Revenue, Food and Agriculture, Planning, Panchayati System, Finance, Law, Public Works, Irrigation and Power, Education, Industries, Cooperation, Transport, Local Government, Jails, Labour and Employment and Excise and Taxation.
Functions of State Secretariats in India
State secretariats in India decide the general program of activities of the respective state governments. A state secretariat is responsible for the annual budget of the state government, post detailed discussion with the Finance Department of the state. It executes the programs adopted by the political authority and the ministers. The state secretariat also has other functions to perform like supervising the process of formulation of government policies and looking after the appointment of the departmental heads and the use of money in accordance with the term and conditions of the budget in each and every government department.
