The Central Secretariat system in India is based on two principles:
(1) The task of policy formulation needs to be separated from policy implementation.
(2) Maintaining Cadre of Officers operating on the tenure system is a prerequisite to the working of the Secretariat system.
The Central Secretariat is a policy making body of the government and is not, to undertake work of execution, unless necessitated by the lack of official agencies to perform certain tasks. The Central Secretariat normally performs the following functions:
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(1) Assisting the minister in the discharge of his policy making and parliamentary functions.
(2) Framing legislation, rules and principles of procedure.
(3) Sect oral planning and programme formulation.
(4) (a) Budgeting and control of expenditure in respect of activities of the Ministry/department.
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(b) Securing administrative and financial approval to operational programme and their subsequent modifications.
(c) Supervision and control over the execution of policies and programmes by the executive departments or semi-autonomous field agencies.
(d) Imitating steps to develop greater personnel and organizational competence both in the ministry/department and its executive agencies.
(e) Assisting in increasing coordination at the Central level.
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Structure of secretariat
The Central Secretariat is a collection of various ministries and departments. A ministry is responsible for the formulation of the policy of government within its sphere of responsibility as well as for the execution and review of that policy. A ministry, for the purpose of internal organisation, is divided into the following subgroups with an officer in charge of each of them.
The lowest of these units is the section in charge of a Section Officer and consists of a number of assistants, clerks, typists and peons. It deals with the work relating to the subject allotted to it. It is also referred as the office. Two sections constitute the branch which is under the charge of an und secretary, also known as the branch officer.
Two branches ordinarily form a division which is headed by a deputy secretary. When the volume of work in a ministry exceeds the manageable charge of a secretary, one or more wings are established with a joint secretary in charge of each wing.
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At the top of the hierarchy comes the department which is headed by the secretary himself or in some case by an additional/special secretary. In some cases, a department may be as autonomous as a minister and equivalent to it in rank.