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Secretary to the Government of India

Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India.[5] The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.[6]

The position holder is generally a career civil servant[3][7][8][9][10][11] and a government official of high seniority. The civil servants who hold this rank and post are either from All India Services (on deputation; on tenure, after empanelment) or Central Civil Services (Group A; on empanelment). All promotions and appointments to this rank and post are directly made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

In the functioning of the Government of India,[12][13][14] a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department,[15][16] and is equivalent to chief secretaries or additional chief secretaries of state governments and Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents in the Indian Armed Forces,[17] In the Department of Military Affairs of the Ministry of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff is currently designated as Secretary (GOI).[18]

Secretaries (GOI) rank 23rd on Order of Precedence of India.[19][20][21][22]

History

C. H. Bhabha with a Secretary and a few Joint Secretaries to the Government of India in 1947.

In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries,[23] who were all members of the Indian Civil Service. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at ₹48,000 (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$140,000 in 2023) annum in the 1930s.[23] As per warrant or precedence of 1905,[24] secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.[24]

N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar had once suggested "[a] secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control."[25]

The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."[25]

Powers, responsibilities and postings

The organizational structure of a department of the Government of India.

A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department.[16]

The role of a secretary is as follows:

The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level.[26] Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.[citation needed]

Position

In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the ministries of the government and hold positions such as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Railway Board and Telecom Commission.

According to the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the Indian Administrative Service.[3]

Emolument, accommodation and prequisites

An Indian diplomatic passport and an official generally issued to Secretaries to the Government of India.

All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a Diplomatic passport or Official passport. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.[27][28][29]

The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent[17] to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the Indian Armed Forces, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.[17]

List of current secretaries to the Government of India

Reforms and challenges

Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.[37][38][39][40]

Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.[3][7][8][9][10][11]

Lateral entry

From 1998 to 1999, Vijay Kelkar served as Finance Secretary as a lateral entry. During the term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Ram Vinay Shahi served as Secretary (GOI) in the Ministry of Power from 2002 to 2007 as a lateral entry.[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Fixed tenure for defence, home secretaries". Rediff.com. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  2. ^ "Fixed tenure for Defence, Home Secretaries". Outlook. 22 September 2005.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Report of the 7th Central Pay Commission of India" (PDF). Seventh Central Pay Commission, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  4. ^ a b Biswas, Shreya, ed. (29 June 2016). "7th Pay Commission cleared: What is the Pay Commission? How does it affect salaries?". India Today. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  5. ^ "The Central Staffing Scheme" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. January 1996. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Only Cabinet can create Joint Secretary, above level posts". Press Trust of India. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  7. ^ a b Tripathi, Shishir (8 December 2015). "IAS: Emperor among the kings?". Governance Now. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  8. ^ a b Tikku, Aloke (15 January 2016). "Parity between IAS and non-IAS? The IAS will get to decide". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Non-IAS bureaucrats now eligible for secretary-level posts". The Asian Age. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Need Pay Parity With IAS Officers, Say Officials Of 20 Civil Services". NDTV. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  11. ^ a b Dastidar, Avishek G (14 January 2017). "Alleging bias, non-IAS officers petition PM Modi". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Part I of the Constitution of India- The Union and its territory - Article 1" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Part XIV of the Constitution of India- Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits - Article 300" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Part XIV of the Constitution of India- Services under the Union and the States - Article 312(2)" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  15. ^ a b c d Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. pp. 3.1–3.10. ISBN 978-9339204785.
  16. ^ a b "Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure - 14th Edition (2015)" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension. p. 6. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  17. ^ a b c "TGC Entry Advert, 2022" (PDF). Ministry of Defence, Government of India. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  18. ^ "Who's Who: Department of Military Affairs". Ministry of Defence (India). Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  19. ^ "Order of Precedence" (PDF). Rajya Sabha. President's Secretariat. 26 July 1979. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  20. ^ "Table of Precedence" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. President's Secretariat. 26 July 1979. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  21. ^ "Table of Precedence". Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  22. ^ Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th ed.). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. ISBN 9788125019886.
  23. ^ a b Kirk-Greene, A. (2000). Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. New York City: Springer. ISBN 9780230286320.
  24. ^ a b As per published records and book named "The India List and India Office List 1905" as published by India Office and India Office Records.
  25. ^ a b Singh, Hoshiar; Singh, Pankaj (2011). Indian Administration (1st ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education India. pp. 104–126. ISBN 978-8131761199.
  26. ^ "PM to oversee cadre allocation of bureaucrats, postings of joint secretaries and above". The Times of India. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  27. ^ "Compendium (RTI Act) – Government Residence (General Pool in Delhi) Rules" (PDF). Directorate of Estates, Ministry of Urban Development They are also eligible for Y+ security i.e of 4 Para commando and 18 Armed Forces. January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  28. ^ Gupta, Geeta (21 July 2011). "New homes for govt staff changing New Delhi". Indian Express. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  29. ^ Singh, Vijaita (16 September 2015). "Home Secretary gives the miss to fortified bungalow". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  30. ^ "Secretaries to the Government of India (as on 6 September 2023)" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training. Government of India. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  31. ^ "IPS Swagat Das Appointed As Secretary (Security) In Cabinet Secretariat". Indian Masterminds. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  32. ^ "Ajit Kumar Mohanty pointed As Atomic Energy Commission Chief". Times of India.com. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  33. ^ a b c d e "S Krishnan is new Meity secy, Neeraj Mittal to lead telecom dept in reshuffle". Hindustan Times. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  34. ^ "Big Reshuffle at Centre, Modi Govt Shifts 16 IAS Officers, 3 IAS Elevated to Rank of Secy". Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  35. ^ "IAS Debashree Mukherjee takes charge as Secretary, Dept of Water Resources". 4 October 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  36. ^ www.ETTelecom.com. "Government appoints Abhay Karandikar as Department of Science & Technology Secretary - ET Telecom". ETTelecom.com. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  37. ^ Natarajan, Gulzar (13 April 2015). "Lateral entry, blind alley". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  38. ^ Chandra, Shailaja (15 July 2017). "Should the government allow lateral entry into the civil services?". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  39. ^ "The need for lateral entry in civil services". Live Mint. HT Media. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  40. ^ Natarajan, Gulzar; Subbarao, Duvvuri (9 August 2017). "The case for lateral entry". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  41. ^ "Even Manmohan Singh was a lateral entry, says PMO". India Today. Retrieved 20 July 2024.

Bibliography