The state secretarial consists of departments of state government which are headed politically by the ministers and administratively by the secretaries.
The chief secretary Is the head of the entire state secretariat while a secretary is a head of one or two departments.
Functions of State Secretariat:
? the secretariat of the state determines the general program of activities of the state government.
? it prepares the annual budget of the state government after detailed discussion or consultation with the Finance Department of the state.
? to implement the programs adopted by the political authority and the ministers, it is the duty of the secretariat to fix the policies and planning‘s for the materialization of those programs and also to decide where and under what condition the loans or grants-in-aids will be given.
? it is the duty of the secretariat to observe and supervise the progress made in the formulation of those government policies.
? the secretariat looks after if the money is spent in accordance with the and conditions of the budget in each and every government departments.
? it is the duty of the secretariat to amend or modify the investment policy and programs of the government following the norms and classifications set by the Finance Ministry.
? the secretariat looks after the appointment, of the departmental heads of various departments, including their salaries, leave etc. and takes the necessary decisions thereof.
? it is the secretariat which gives the final shape to all proposed laws.
? the secretariat prepares and gives the documents of the questions to be answered by the ministers in the Legislative Assemblies and the Legislative Councils, where they are.
? it is the duty of the secretariat to select the places and to provide spaces to the departments of the secretariat and to the departments associated with it for doing their internal day to day works and lastly, it is also the duty of the secretariat to select the representatives and delegates in the different central and state government seminars and workshops for training of different categories of employees.
The Cabinet Secretary exercises much more influence in the decision making body of the Cabinet than his formal position suggests. Although his function is to provide secretariat assistance to the Cabinet, he sits near the Chief Minister in the Cabinet meetings and briefs him personally. He transforms the actual proceedings of Cabinet in the form of the Cabinet minutes (that is, he puts in what is better and relevant).Although he keeps an eye upon the smooth functioning of the working of the ministries and departments; he does not have a supervisory function over any of them. He is the head of the Civil Service and ensures that the morale of the civil servants is kept high. He protects their interests in a situation of conflict between politicians and civil servants.
The Cabinet Secretary is sort of advisor and conscience—keeper to all the permanent officials .
Functions and Role:-
Chief Secretary of a state in India has to do the following jobs mainly:
1. The Chief Secretary is the principal adviser of the Chief Minister and helps the latter to perform all the duties and to materialize all the development plans and programmes.
2. The Chief Secretary is the Cabinet Secretary of the state and as such he decides the agenda and venue of the cabinet meetings and also maintains the necessary records thereof.
3. The Chief Secretary controls and supervises all the departments of the whole secretariat of the state.
4. The Chief Secretary is the Chief of the Civil Service. He controls the appointment promotion and transfer of the high ranking government officials. It is through him that all the government orders, directives etc. are sent to the different high ranking officials of government departments.
5. It is the Chief Secretary who represents his state in the zonal council and also acts as its secretary one after another as the term rotates.
6. The Chief Secretary controls and the administrative works including even the distribution of the rooms of all the secretariat buildings within the state of which he is the Chief Secretary.
7. It is he who controls all the employees of all the state government departments within his state.
8. He also controls the central record branch, the secretariat library, the secretariat archive, the security guards of the secretariat etc.
9. He also looks after those affairs which do not fall in the jurisdiction of other secretaries.
10. At the same time he, by dint of his post, is the ex-officio chairman of innumerable committees which generally takes significant and important decisions in administrative affairs of the state.
11. Moreover, during the time of national or state level emergency, the Chief Secretary acts as the main nerve-centre of his state. During the time of calamity, be that natural or otherwise, he remains by the side of the government with his advices, efficiency and skill and looks after the works of relief and rehabilitation. During this period he acts as the coordinator between the state and the districts. As a co-ordinator, Crisis administration is the main role of the Chief Secretary.
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