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State Executive Structure |
At the
apex of the Executive is the Governor and the Council of Ministers,
headed by the
Chief Minister, who are advised and assisted by the
Secretariat. All orders of government are issued from the Minister's
Offices(Eg: Mantralaya),
which is divided into a number of departments. Below the Ministers
Offices
are the executive departments, which execute most orders from the
government. These organisations reach the regional, district, taluka
and, in some cases, even village levels.
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The
Chief Minister and Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers (often called the Cabinet) consists of the
Chief Minister, appointed by the Governor, and other Ministers
appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister. The
Council may be of either two or three tiers - consisting of
Ministers and Ministers of State or/and Deputy Ministers. Their
number varies, with no maximum or minimum limit. Though the
Ministers hold office during the tenure of the Governor, the Council
of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Legislative Assembly
of the state and can continue in office only as long as it enjoys
the confidence of a majority of the members of the Legislative
Assembly.
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Collective
Responsibility of Ministers
A Secratariat department deals with a number of subjects often
allotted to different Ministers; one is often in charge of subjects
from two or more departments. Even though for administrative
convenience the business of government is divided among the
Ministers, the Council is collectively responsible for all advice
given to the Governor. This could be by an individual Minister on a
matter pertaining to his portfolio, or the result of a discussion at
a meeting of the Cabinet, or otherwise. Further, unlike in others
countries (the United Kingdom, for instance), all legislation
confers powers on or assigns functions to the state government and
not to individual Ministers. Decisions and orders are also always
issued as those of the state government, and not of any particular
Minister. All important matters required to be submitted to the
Cabinet are specified in the Rules of Business.
The Cabinet often works through sub-committees either as a
substitute for consideration of a matter by the whole Cabinet, or as
a preliminary to such consideration. Such sub-committees may be
constituted ad-hoc for a particular matter - such as, for example,
the sub-committee for Textile commerce or for the constitution of regional
boards. They may take the form of a standing sub-committee entrusted
with specified work - such as, for example, the Planning
Sub-Committee or the Sub-Committee for the Tribal Sub-Plan or for
the textile industry.
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Secretary
to the Cabinet
There is no separate Cabinet department or office in the state, as
in the case of the Cabinet Secretariat in the union government. The
Chief Secretary to the government acts as Secretary to the Cabinet
and work connected with the meetings of the Cabinet is done in the
General Administration department under the control of the Chief
Secretary.
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State Secretariat:
Nature of Business
The main functions of the State Secretariat consist (among other things) of
the formulation of policy, framing legislation, statutory rules,
regulations and orders, the exercise of supervision, direction and
control over the executive departments, including appeals and
representations against their action, the collection of information
for the framing of policy, as well as for control of programs,
framing of the budget, assisting the minister in legislature work
including answering questions, calling-attention notices, etc. The
State Secretariat usually does all correspondence with the central
government and other state governments.
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State Secretariat
: Internal Structure
Ordinarily, each department of the Secretariat is headed by a
Secretary who, except in the case of the few technical exemptions, is a member of
the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). At present, many large
departments have two or more Secretaries, each in charge of a major
subject. On the other hand, some Secretaries deal with subjects from
two or more departments. Some of
the senior-most IAS Secretaries are designated Principal
Secretaries, with a higher pay.
The two Secretaries in the Law and Judiciary department are either
from the judicial service or members of the Bar or officers promoted
from the department. Till October 1974, an ICS officer who had
served in the judiciary held the senior among the two posts of
Secretaries, Law and Judiciary department.
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The
Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary, who heads the General Administration department
and is ex-officio Secretary to the Cabinet, is overall in-charge of
the administration of the state government. Important cases from all
departments, particularly if they have implications of a general
character, are submitted to the Chief Secretary by the Secretary of
the department concerned before taking the orders of government. The
Chief Secretary is also a member of Expenditure Priority Committee,
the other members being the Secretary, Finance and the Minister,
Finance, who is the Chairman. The Chief Secretary is also the head
of the services and important service matters arising in all the
departments are decided in consultation with him. He presides at
meetings of Secretaries and reconciles inter-departmental
differences. He is the Chief Development Commissioner for the state.
There is also a post of Additional Chief Secretary who works either
in the General Administration department or some other department,
according to the exigencies of service.
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