What are the Functions of the Secretariat?

The broad functions of the secretariat in the Indian states may be mentioned briefly here.

1. With its proximity to the seats of power, the secretariat tends to be the repository of all powers and authority of the state government. The secretariat helps the ministers in their individual and collective capacity to formulate policies on all matters of state administration.

2. It serves as a 'think-tank' and 'brain-trust' of the state government. Since each policy is based on a body of data, the secretariat is a sort of data bank engaged in collecting information, classifying it, analyzing it and supplying it promptly when most needed.

3. It is the main coordinating agency for state administration. The Departments of Planning, Finance, Personnel and General Administration help in this process of coordination

4. It gives directions and guidance to the directorates and field organizations for the implementation of government policies.

5. It lays down rules and regulations for the guidance, advice and control of various public agencies and also helps the government in undertaking and evaluation of the work of these public agencies.

6. It also undertakes quasi-legislative work, as it helps the ministers in drafting legislation, framing rules and regulations and also formulates principles of procedures and financial control.

7. It is also the spokesman of the state government. The Central and other state governments have to contact it first and not the state organizations directly.

8. Fixing the time, place and agenda of cabinet meetings.

9. Providing secretarial assistance to the cabinet: recording its proceedings, communicating the cabinet decisions to the concerned authorities, monitoring their implementation and keeping the cabinet posted with the developments in this respect.

10. Dealing with work pertaining to inter-state and Union-state relationships.

11. Receiving instructions from the Government of India and issuing instructions to the concerned departments to implement them.

12. Collecting recommendations from the various departments regarding cash rewards and merit certificates to be given to civil servants.

13. Providing secretarial assistance to the conferences of senior administrative officers, Collectors, Superintendents of Police etc.

14. Making rules for regulating discretionary grants of the Governor and the Chief Minister.

15. Coordinating the timely submissions, to the Legislative Assembly, of replies by the concerned departments.

16. Serving as a data bank for all important decisions taken in various departments and collecting important and relevant information for ready reference by the Chief Minister and other ministers.

17. Taking care of all establishment matters relating to the office staff of the department.

In almost all Indian states, the State Secretariat has proved to be of immense help to the cabinet in organizing its meetings, in policy-making and in ensuring that its decisions are communicated to the concerned agencies and are implemented-effectively. It also provides feedback to the cabinet on the feasibility of its decisions and thus acts as an instrument of administrative change.

It may be mentioned, in passing, that the system of cabinet committees does not seem to have caught favour at the state level, though the imperatives of the complexity in policy-making are bound to force the creation of such committees in the near future.

Within this broad framework of functions, the state governments have their own list of duties to be performed by the secretariat. Below, we have taken, for illustration purposes only, the functions of the Madhya Pradesh Secretariat. The functions of other secretariats too are more or less similar.

General Administrative Matters

This category includes the following:

(a) All matters of general policy.

(b) Inter departmental coordination.

(c) Matters pertaining to the framing of legal enactments or rules or amendments to the existing ones and cases involving interpretation or relaxation of existing rules or orders.

(d) Correspondence with the Union government and other state governments and governments of union territories.

(e) All matters pertaining to the preparation and adoption of new plan schemes and important modifications in the existing schemes.

(f) Review of the progress of the plan schemes.

(g) Inspection reports and tour notes recorded by the heads of departments.

(h) Holding all-India conferences and important conferences at the state level.

(i) Answering questions before the Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, and other Parliamentary and Assembly questions.

(j) Delegation of powers

(k) Territorial changes in the area of administrative units and changes of headquarters.

(I) Appeals and revisions within the powers of the state government

Financial Matters

These may be summed up as:

(a) Scrutiny and approval of departmental budget estimates, major appropriation of accounts, surrender of funds and supplementary grants.

(b) All proposals involving new items of expenditure.

(c) Financial sanction not within the competence of the heads of departments.

(d) Sanction of expenditure out of the Contingency Fund.

(e) Write-off cases beyond the powers of heads of departments and cases of audit objections regarding the offices of heads of departments and the secretariat.

Service matters

The following matters fall within the ambit of the secretariat:

(a) Approval of service rules and their amendments.

(b) Matters relating to senior appointments, promotions, transfers and cases of disciplinary proceedings against gazette officers.

(c) Initial appointment of officers belonging to the state service and infliction of major punishment on them.

(d) Creation of posts, their extension and continuance, re-employment, resignations, special pay and allowances and pensions not within the authority of heads of departments.

These are functions, generally common to all the state secretariats. Below are given examples of three state secretariats
.