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 Mantralaya. All orders of government are issued from the Mantralaya, which is divided into a number of departments. Below the Mantralaya 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.

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. 

Collective Responsibility of Ministers

A Mantralaya 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 Texcom 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.

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.

Mantralaya: Nature of Business 

The main functions of the Mantralaya 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 programmes, framing of the budget, assisting the minister in legislature work including answering questions, calling-attention notices, etc. The Mantralaya usually does all correspondence with the central government and other state governments.

Mantralaya : Internal Structure

Ordinarily, each department of the Mantralaya is headed by a Secretary who, except in the case of the Law and Judiciary department, the PWD and the Irrigation department, 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. For example, one Secretary deals with Labour from the Industries, Energy and Labour 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.

The Secretaries of the PWD and the Irrigation departments belong to the Maharashtra Service of Engineers. However, till 1974, the Secretaries of these departments were from the IAS

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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