Module – 2

Civil Service
Characteristics
Characteristics of the Civil Service

1. Permanency:
The civil service is a permanent government establishment and employees
enjoy security of tenure. The civil service remains intact while government
changes periodically.

2. Neutrality:
Civil servants are required to be politically neutral so that they can serve
faithfully, any government in power, no matter the controlling party. The
Law requires them to resign their appointment where they are interested in
partisan politics.

3. Impartiality:
This implies that civil servants should discharge their official duties fairly to
all the people they are serving, without religious, class, gender, ethnic or any
other sectional biases.

4. Anonymity:
Civil servants may neither disclose government official secretarial nor speak
to the press on government matters, except they are authorised by the
minister supervising the ministry. They cannot be held responsible for their
official actions. The minister and director-general are politically accountable
for the success or failure of their ministry.

5. Expertise:
The civil service consists of highly qualified and professionally experienced
experts in various fields. The formulation and implementation of government
policies and programmes depend largely on these specialists, while political
office holders may not themselves be specialists in the areas they supervise.

6. Bureaucracy:

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The civil service is characterised by very strict adherence to established rules
and regulations; this sometimes causes delays in the implementation of
government policies and programmes.

7. Merit System:
Recruitment and promotion in the civil service is often based on merit. Only
qualified and competent candidates are recruited by the civil service
commission. Promotion is also carried out in accordance with the established
rules and regulations.

Functions of Civil Services

1. Formulation of Policies:

The senior administrative and technical civil servants help to formulate

the policies and programmes of the government. These are presented to
the ministers and commissioners for consideration and final decisions.

2. Drafting of Bills:

Experts in the civil service, especially lawyers, assist the government in

the drafting of bills which eventually become laws.

3. Advice to the ministers/commissioners:

The top civil servants act as advisers to the ministers and commissioners
in charge of their ministries. Their relevant expertise and experience
afford them the opportunity of providing dependable guide and
information on complex government policies and programmes. They
also help the political appointees to furnish the legislature with relevant
information requested on their ministry.

4. Implementation of government policies:

The top civil servants coordinate and supervise their subordinates to

ensure the smooth execution of the policies and programmes of
government. This ensures the provision of amenities to improve the
health, education, social and general life of their people.

5. Preparation of annual estimates and budgets:

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The civil servants draft and prepare the annual budget and estimates of
government ministries, departments and corporations.

6. Keeping government records and property:

Civil servants gather and supply very useful information on which

government policies and programmes are based. They keep and
preserve government property.

7. Collection of revenue:

The civil service assists the government to generate funds through the
collection of taxes paid by citizens and corporate organizations, fines
from the courts and duties paid by exporters and importers. This
revenue enables the government to achieve its goals and objectives.

8. Law-making:

The civil service makes byelaws, regulations and orders under powers
granted it by the Parliament.

9. Quasi-judicial functions:

The civil service performs some quasi-judicial functions such as the

arrest and prosecution of smugglers (by custom officials). Public health
and rent control officers often inspect residential and commercial houses
to ascertain their level of cleanliness and curb exorbitant rent demanded
by landlords.

10. Public Enlightenment:

The civil service helps to explain government policies to the members

of the public. They carry out public enlightenment especially through
the mass media to enable the people to appreciate government policies
and programmes, and problems facing the government.

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CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION
The Constitution of India is a remarkable document. It occupies an
important place not only among the newly emerged States but also in the
constitutional history of the world. The Constitution of India deals, in an
elaborate manner with the problem of relations between Union and the States,
problems relating to public services, special classes like Anglo-Indians,
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The Constitution embodies an elaborate
list of Fundamental Rights and also the Directive Principles of the State Policy.
The Preamble of the Constitution declares India to be a sovereign socialist secular
democratic republic. A study of its features reveals that it is a unique document
in size, form and content. In this Unit, we shall study the important features of
our Constitution, role of council of ministers, constitutional authorities,
constitutional commissions and the powers of the central government.
Indian Constitution is a written constitution. It is the most lengthy and
detailed constitutional document in the world. It has borrowed most of its
provisions from all the known constitutions in such a way that they suit the
existing conditions and needs of the country. The constitution makers framed the
chapter on Fundamental Rights upon the model of American constitution.
Parliamentary system of government has been adopted from the U.K. Idea of the
Directive Principles of State Policy was taken from the Constitution of Eire
Republic of Ireland. Provisions regarding emergencies were added in the light of
the Constitution of German Reich and the Government of India Act, 1935.
Another important feature of our Constitution is the establishment of a
parliamentary system of government both at the centre and in the states. In a
parliamentary system of government the executive is responsible to the
Parliament and not to the President. It creates a strong centre and vests the
constituent and residual powers of legislation in central legislature called
Parliament. The reasons behind adoption of a parliamentary democracy are two:
Firstly, our past experience is working with parliamentary system during the
British rule and secondly, the parliamentary system of government harmonises
with the demand for 'a strong centrewhich the Presidential system with divided
authority does not. In the Parliamentary system of government, the executive and
legislature are not independent of each other, instead theexecutive is a part of the
legislature an4 therefore, unlike in a presidential system, conflicts are less likely
to arise between them.
2.1. Federalism
The political structure of the Indian Constitution is based on the twin
principles of parliamentary system of government and federalism though the term
'Federation' has not been used in the Constitution. A survey of our Constitution
indicates that it possesses all the essential features of a federal system. While in
a unitary state, there is only one government, namely the national government, in
a federal state, there are two governments - the national or federal government
and the governments of the component states.
A federal state is a fusion of several states into a single state in regard to
matters affecting common interests, while each state enjoys Autonomy in regard
to other matters. The states are not agents of federal government but both the
federal government and the state

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governments draw their authority from the Constitution. The states do not
have a right tosecede from the federation.
A federal state derives its existence from the Constitution. Every power -
executive, legislative or judicial, whether it belongs to the federation or to the
component states, is subordinate to and controlled by the Constitution. Courts
have the final power to interpret the Constitution and nullify any action on the
part of the federal and state governments or their different organs which violate
the provisions of the Constitution. Another important feature ofa federal state is
that there is a division of powers between the federal government and the
governments of the components states.
All these features are present in the Indian political system. The
Constitution of India can be both federal and unitary according to requirements
and circumstances. It is framed to work as a federal system during normal times.
But in times of war, insurrection or thebreakdown of constitutional machinery in
the states, it works more like a unitary system. A proclamation of emergency in
the country automatically transforms a federal state into a unitary state.
The distribution of legislative powers between the Centre and the States
has been provided for in the Constitution according to three lists of subjects, these
are Union, State and concurrent. The union list gives the Centre exclusive
authority to act in matters of national importance and includes among its ninety
seven items like defence, foreign affairs, currency, communication, banking,
income taxation and custom duties.
The State list has sixty one entries like law and order, local government,
public health, education and agriculture.
There are fifty two entries in the Concurrent list. These include the legal
system, trade and industry and economic and social planning. In respect of
Concurrent items the laws passedby Central Parliament prevail over those passed
by State legislatures.
The residual powers lie with the Union and in conflict between Union and
State, the Union law prevails.
Thus, the Constitution gives vast powers to the Central Government as
compared to theState governments. During emergency, the Parliament can make
laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India with respect to any of the
matters, enumerated in the State list. The President, if advised by the Governor,
or on his own, feels that the government of the State cannot be carried on in
accordance 'with the provisions of the Constitution may proclaim a state of
emergency and assume all executive functions to himself and declare the powers
of State Assembly to be under the authority of the Parliament. Even, the
RajyaSabha by a two third majority can ask the Parliament to make laws on the
items in/State list for a temporary period.
2.2. The Council of Ministers
At the head of the Union executive stands the President of India and the
States, it is the Governor who is the executive head. Though the executive power
of the Union is vested in the president, he in practice is aided and advised by the
Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. The Union legislature is
called Parliament. It consists of the President and the two Houses. The Lower
HOW; is called the House of People or 'LokSabha'. Entire responsibility of
enactment of laws rests with the Prime Minister who heads the Council of

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Ministers. The
Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime
Minister at the head to aid and advise the President who shall, in exercise of his
functions, act in accordance with the advice rendered after such reconsideration
(Article 74). While the Prime Minister is selected by the President, the other
Ministers are appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister
(Article 75(1).
The number of members of the Council of Ministers is now specified in
the Constitution. As per the constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003 the
total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of
Ministers shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the
House of the People (LokSabha). All the Ministers do not belong to the same
rank. They are classified under three ranks; Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State
and Deputy Minister
Thus, the Council of Ministers is a composite body, consisting of different
categories. The rank of the different ministers is determined by the Prime
Minister. . He also allocates portfolios among them. Ministers may be chosen
from members of either house and a minister who is a member of one house has
a right to speak and take part in the proceedings of the otherHouse, though he has
no right to vote in the House of which he is not a member. Under the Constitution,
there is no bar to the appointment of a person from outside the legislature as
minister. But he cannot continue as minister for more than six months unless he
secures a seat in either house of Parliament. Though theoretically the function of
the Council of Ministers is to only aid and advice the President, practically the
vast power provided to the President by the Constitution is actually exercised by
Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as their head.
The Constitution is based on the concept of collective responsibility. The
Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the lower house of the
Parliament. The essence of collective responsibility is that once a decision is
taken by the government, it is binding on all the ministers. Ministry as a body, is
under a constitutional obligation to resign as soon as it loses the majority in the
lower House (House of People) of the legislature.
2.3. The Central Secretariat
The Central Secretariat stands for the complex of departments or
ministries whose administrative heads are designated as Secretaries and whose
political heads are ministers. In this Unit, we shall briefly trace the evolution of
the Secretariat, and describe its structure and functions. The tenure system, and
the staffing of the Secretariat will also be discussed. Under the Secretariat there
is a network of agencies which are responsible for the execution of the
government policies. The relation between these agencies and the Secretariat will
also be explained in this Unit.
2.3.1. Origin of the Central Secretariat
The Secretariat in India referred to the office of the Governor General in
British India. However, the size of the Central Secretariat and the scope of its
activities have undergone considerable change over the last two hundred years of
its evolution in keeping with the changes in the aims, objectives and nature of the
central government in India. At the end of the eighteenth century the central
government consisted of a Governor General and three Councillors, and the

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Secretariat of four departments.
Each of them was under a Secretary, and there was a Chief Secretary
heading them all. A hundred years later, on the eve of the Mont-ford Reforms in
1919, the Government of India consisted of a Governor General and seven
members and there were nine secretarial departments. This number remained the
same till the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Prior to 1919, the Central
Government, while administering certain subjects directly like the army, posts
and telegraphs and railways, had by and large left the task of implementation of
other subjects to the local provincial governments.
A major change came in the above position with the inauguration of
the reforms of1919 which for the first time, made a division of functions between
the Central and provincial governments. Both the Central and provincial
governments became responsible for both policyand administration. As a result,
the role of the secretariat began to change from a merely policy-formulating,
supervising and coordinating agency to that of an executive agency aswell.
The inauguration of provincial autonomy in 1937 and the outbreak of the Second
World War accelerated the above process. In consequence, there was a four- fold
increase of the Central Secretariat and its total strength rose to about two hundred.
The Government of India was still struggling with the post-war problems
of demobilisation and reconstruction, when Independence came, accompanied by
the partition of the country. At its very inception, therefore, the new government
found itself faced with tremendous problems like rehabilitation of refugees from
Pakistan, external aggression in Jammu and Kashmir, integration of princely
states into the Indian Union, internal security, shortage of essential articles, at a
time when there occurred serious shortage of personnel dueto the British Officers
returning home and many Muslim officers opting for Pakistan. Soon after, the
adoption of the goal of a welfare state made unprecedented demands on the
already overburdened administrative machinery. At the same time, the Industrial
Policy Resolution of 1948 started the process of a vast expansion of the public
sector. The inevitable consequenceof such a vast expansion, in the functions and
responsibilities of the government was a marked increase in the number of
departments, and personnel. Thus, the number of departments in the secretariat,
which stood at four in 1858. (9 in 19 19, 10 in 1939, 18 in 1947) had risen to 74
by
1994.
2.3.2. Role and functions of Central Secretariat
The Central Secretariat occupies a key position in Indian administration.
The Secretariat refers to the conglomeration of various ministries/departments of
the central government. The Secretariat works as a single unit with collective
responsibility as in the case of the Council of Ministers. Under existing rules,
each secretariat department is required to consult any other department that may
be interested or concerned before disposing of a case. Secretaries, thus, are
secretaries to the Government as a whole and not to any particular minister.
The Secretariat assists the ministers in the formulation of governmental
policies. Ministers finalise policies on the basis of adequate data, precedents and
other relevant information. The Secretariat makes these available to the minister,
thus, enabling him toformulate policies. The Secretariat assists the ministers in
their legislative work too. The Secretariat prepares legislative drafts to be

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introduced in the legislature. It engages in the collection of relevant information
for answering parliamentary questions and also, for various
parliamentary committees. It carries out a detailed scrutiny of a problem bringing
an overall comprehensive viewpoint on it., getting approval, if required, of other
lateral agencies like the Ministry of Lab and the Ministry of Finance; and also,
consulting other organisations concerned with a particular matter. The secretariat
is the clearing house preliminary to governmental decisions. It functions as the
main channel of communication between the government and other concerned
agencies like the Planning Commission, Finance Commission, etc. And lastly,
the Secretariat also ensures that field offices execute, with efficiency and
economy, the policies and decisions of the Government.
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,ko
undertake work of execution, unless necessitated by the lack of official agencies
to perform certain tasks. The Central Secretariat normally performs the following
functions:
a. Assisting the minister in the discharge of his policy making and
parliamentaryfunctions.
b. Framing legislation, rules and principles of procedure.
c. Sectorial planning and programme formulation.
1. Budgeting and control of expenditure in respect of
activities of theministry/department.
2. Securing administrative and financial approval to operational
programme andtheir subsequent modifications.
3. Supervision and control over the execution of policies and
programmes by theexecutive departments or semi-autonomous field
agencies.
4. Initiating steps to develop greater personnel and organisational
competence both in the ministry/department and its executive
agencies.
5. Assisting in increasing coordination at the Central level.
2.3.3. Structure of Central Secretariat
The Central Secretariat is a collection of various ministries and department.
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 sub- groups with an officer incharge of each of them.
Department –
Secretary/Additional/Special Secretary
Wing – Additional/Joint Secretary
Division -
Deputy
Secretary
Branch – Under
Secretary

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 Section -
Section Officer
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 to as the office. Two sections
constitute the branch which is under the charge of an undersecretary, also known
as the branch officer. Two branches
ordinarily form a division which is normally 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.
At the top of the hierarchy comes the department which is headed by the secretary
himself or in some cases by an additional special secretary. In some cases, a
department may be as autonomous as a ministry and equivalent to it in rank.
2.3.4. Ministry and Department
The distinction between 'department' and 'ministry' may be explained by
referring to 'ministry' as the minister's charge and 'department as the secretary's
charge. Although a ministry stands for the minister's charge, its administrative
divisions are not uniform. A ministry may not have a department: or may have
one or more than one department in which it is formally divided.
While a department may be referred to as the secretary's charge, all
secretaries, although they get the same salary, are not necessarily of equal 'rank'.
A Ministry may have two or more secretaries, each in charge of a specified
segment of the Ministry's work, or of a department in it, but there is, in addition,
one secretary who is head of, and represents, the entire ministry. Although all of
them are secretaries, the former are subordinate to the latter who, in addition to
his own work, coordinates the work of these secretaries of departments/segments
of work within the ministry.
2.3.5. Cabinet Secretariat
On the attainment of Independence in 1947 a popular cabinet headed by
the Prime Minister replaced the Executive Council of Viceroy. The Executive
Council Secretariat formally became the Cabinet Secretariat. Consequently the
Secretary of the Executive Council of the Viceroy was renamed as the Cabinet
Secretary.
The Cabinet Secretariat is a staff body, which has an important
coordinating role in the process of decision-making at the highest level and
operates under the direction of the Prime Minister. The Cabinet Secretary is the
administrative head of the Cabinet Secretariat.
2.3.6. Evolution of Cabinet Secretariat in India
In 1948, the cabinet decided to start the Economic and Statistical
Coordination Unit asa part of the Cabinet Secretariat. Its work was to secure all
available information from existing statistical cells of the various ministries
/departments and to present this information periodically to the cabinet. It was
also required to coordinate the activities of various ministers and to give them
advice about future work. The Unit also took over the work relating to
development schemes from the Secretariat of the Development Board pending
the constitution of the Planning Commission. In this capacity, its function was to
examine various development schemes of the Centre and the States and report to
the cabinet about them. After the setting up of the Planning Commission in March

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1950, this work was transferred to the Commission.
In 1949, the cabinet approved the Central Statistical Office to be attached
to thesecretariat and to establish a Central Statistical Unit which was set up in
1950. This Unit wasto function in an advisory capacity. Later in February 1951,
the work relating to statistical coordination and statistical publication of a general
nature, which was previously being handled by the Economic Adviser to the
government of India in the then Ministry of Commerce was transferred to the
Cabinet Secretariat. In May 1961, a Central Statistical
Organisation was set up which together with the Statistical Unit was attached to
the Cabinet Secretariat.
Following the report on the reorganisation of the machinery, of the
Government (1949) the Cabinet decided that the Economic Committee of the
Secretariat which was previously located in the Ministry of Finance should be
treated as a part of the Cabinet Secretariat and called it Economic Wing. The
Economic Wing was intended to develop eventually into a Central Economic
Office. However, the proposal did not materialise, and it was decided thatthe
work done by the Economic Wing should be transferred to the Finance Ministry
which had already set up a Central Economic Office. Early in the same year the
work relating to the Joint Communication - Electronics Committee, which was a
sub-committee of the Chiefs of Staff Committee was transferred from the
Ministry of Defence to the Cabinet Secretariat and attached to its Military Wing.
Organisation and Method Division (O&M) of the Government of India
started functioning in March 1954, continued to remain as a separate wing of the
Cabinet Secretariat till 25 March 1964, when a new department called
Administrative Reforms was set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the O&M
Division was transferred to this new department. It was decided on 1 5 February,
1961 that the Central Statistical Organisation, an attached office of the Cabinet
Secretariat, should be given the authority and status of a department of the
government. Accordingly, the Department of Statistics was created in April 1961
as a part of the Cabinet Secretariat with adequate authority to consider statistical
methods; to advise on and issue general directions regarding the setting up of
standards, norms and methods of data collection to 811 central and state
agencies; and to deal with Evolution of Cabinet Secretariatin India.
In 1948, the cabinet decided to start the Economic and Statistical
Coordination Unit asa part of the Cabinet Secretariat. Its work was to secure all
available information from existing statistical cells of the various
ministries/departments and to present this information periodically to the cabinet.
It was also required to coordinate the activities of various ministers and to give
them advice about future work. The Unit also took over the work relating to
development schemes from the Secretariat of the Development Board pending
the constitution of the Planning Commission. In this capacity, its function was to
examine various developmentschemes of the Centre and the States and report to
the cabinet about them. After the setting up of the Planning Commission in March
1950, this work was transferred to the Commission.
In 1949, the cabinet approved the Central Statistical Office to be attached
to thesecretariat and to establish a Central Statistical Unit which was set up in
1950. This Unit wasto function in an advisory capacity. Later in February 1951,
the work relating to statistical coordination and statistical publication of a general

150
nature, which was previously being handled by the Economic Adviser to the
government of India in the then Ministry of Commerce was transferred to the
Cabinet Secretariat. In May 1961, a Central Statistical Organisation was set up
which together with the Statistical Unit was attached to the Cabinet Secretariat.
Following the report on the reorganisation of the machinery, of the
Government (1949) the Cabinet decided that the Economic Committee of the
Secretariat which was previously located in the Ministry of Finance should be
treated as a part of the Cabinet Secretariat and
called it Economic Wing. The Economic Wing was intended to develop
eventually into a Central Economic Office. However, the proposal did not
materialise, and it was decided that the work done by the Economic Wing should
be transferred to the Finance Ministry which had already set up a Central
Economic Office. Early in the same year the work relating to the Joint
Communication - Electronics Committee, which was a sub-committee of the
Chiefs of Staff Committee was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the
Cabinet Secretariat and attached to its Military Wing.
Organisation and Method Division (O&M) of the Government of India
started functioning in March 1954, continued to remain as a separate wing of the
Cabinet Secretariat till 25 March 1964, when a new department called
Administrative Reforms was set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the O&M
Division was transferred to this new department. It was decided on 1 5 February,
1961 that the Central Statistical Organisation, an attached office of the Cabinet
Secretariat, should be given the authority and status of a department of the
government. Accordingly, the Department of Statistics was created in April 1961
as a part of the Cabinet Secretariat with adequate authority to consider statistical
methods; to advise on and issue general directions regarding the setting up of
standards, norms and methods of data collection to all central and state agencies;
and to deal with
October 7 that a Unit called the Directorate-General of Resettlement,
should be set up in its Secretariat for the formulation and implementation of
schemes of relief and rehabilitation in the areas affected. This Unit functioned
under the overall guidance of the Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet
Secretary. This Unit was later abolished and residuary work transferred to the
Department of Rehabilitation on 1 July 1966. In January 1966 the Bureau of
Public Enterprises was shifted form' the Ministry of Finance to the Cabinet
Secretariat but was soon re-transferred to the ministry.
Perhaps the most important change made, as a result of the
recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission, was the creation
of a Central Personnel Agency in the Cabinet Secretariat in August 1970 and the
transfer of the Department of Administrative Reforms from the Home Ministry
to the Cabinet Secretariat in February 1973.
The issue of the location of the Central Administrative Reforms Agency,
however, proved to be controversial. When the Government of India decided to
set up an Organisation and Method Agency, there was a controversy as to its
location. Both Home and Finance Ministries put forward their claims, but it was
ultimately decided to locate it in the Cabinet Secretariat. But the Home Ministry
ultimately succeeded after an interval of ten years to getthe Organisation and
Method Agency shifted from the Cabinet Secretariat to the Home Ministry with

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the elevated status of a department. However, again after nearly a decade the
Department of Administrative Reforms was once again located in the Cabinet
Secretariat in 1973. But, during the Janata Government period the Department of
Personnel and Administrative Reforms was again transferred back to the Ministry
of Home Affairs in 1977. But presently it is located in the Ministry of Personnel
and Public Grievances.
2.3.7. Organisation and functions of Cabinet Secretariat
The organisation of the Cabinet Secretariat and its role has been
constantly shifting with the reorganisation of the executive functions of the union
government.
The Cabinet Secretariat is organised in three wings - the Civil Wing, the
Military Wing and the Intelligence Wing. The main Civil Wing provides
secretarial machinery for the cabinet. It provides secretarial services for the
various standing committees and ad hoc committees of the cabinet and also to a
number of committees of secretaries which function under theChairmanship of
the Cabinet Secretary. It also deals with the framing of the Rules of Business of
the Union government. The Military Wing is responsible for all secretarial work
connected with the meetings of the Defence Committee, National Defence
Council, Military Affairs Committee and a number of other committees
concerned with defence matters. The Intelligence Wing concerns itself with
matters relating to the joint Intelligence Committee of the Cabinet. In addition to
the three wings there is a Joint Communication Electronics Committee located in
the Cabinet Secretariat. The head of the Cabinet Secretariat is the Cabinet
Secretary.
The efficiency of the Cabinet depends to a large extent on the Cabinet
Secretariat whose duty is to prep& in a meaningful way the agenda of the Cabinet
meeting, to provide information and material necessary for its deliberations, and
of drawing up records of the discussions and decisions both of the Cabinet and its
committees. It also oversees the implementation of the necessary decisions by the
ministries concerned. This last function involves the calling of information from
various ministries and departments. It keeps the President, the Vice President and
all the ministries informed of the major activities of the Government conducted
in several ministries by circulating monthly summaries and brief notes on
important matters. It serves the Committees of Secretaries which meet
periodically under the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary to consider and
advise on problems requiring inter- ministerial consultation and coordination. It
finalises the Rules of Business and allocates the business of the Government of
India to the ministries and departments under the direction ofthe Prime Minister
and with the approval of the President. In addition, the Cabinet Secretariat
supplies secretarial assistance to Cabinet Committees.
2.3.8. Cabinet Secretary
The office of the Cabinet Secretary and its functions has evolved over a
period of time. The Administrative Reforms Commission 1969 recommended
that Chief Secretary should appointed for the period of three years. This term of
three years was recommended to enable the functionary to provide effective
leadership to the Civil Service. Recently, N.D.A. Government accepted the
recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission that Cabinet
Secretary should be appointed for the fix term of two years. The first two benefits

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was
T.R. Prasad. He is a member of the civil service and presides over the committees
of secretaries. These committees examine inter-ministry matters, and issues that
concern the Government as a whole. The Cabinet refers certain matters to them
as well. The committees, however, recommend a decision to the concerned
Ministry; they do not decide.
The Cabinet Secretary directly handles all senior appointments in the
Government. From the early 1950s, the practice followed is that the Cabinet
Secretary usually does not prepare papers for the Cabinet or its committees, nor
does he take upon himself the responsibility for a comprehensive scrutiny of the
agenda papers for the Cabinet. All that he does is to ensure that the notes are self-
contained and that appropriate details for discussion are
provided, occasionally seeking clarification or raising points for Modification
with the ministryconcerned.
The Cabinet Secretary is present in all meetings of the Cabinet and its
committees. Heis responsible for preparing the agenda, priorities of items and
allocation of subjects to Cabinet committees. The Prime Minister approves these.
In these matters the Cabinet Secretary has to exercise his judgement taking into
account the national priorities arid what is considered important by the ministries.
The Cabinet minutes are prepared by the Cabinet Secretary, and decisions
communicated to the ministries by him.
The Cabinet Secretary has to play varied roles. He must keep track of
urgent problems in socio-economic and political aspects, on bottlenecks in the
implementation of Government programmes, on issues that the Prime Minister
should know urgently and matters requiring his decisions. The Cabinet Secretary
must use his discretion in all these matters and keep himself up-to-date with
relevant data. As there are no fixed sources for such data, and, indeed there could
not be, the interpersonal, skills of the incumbent and the confidence he evokes
are two important requirements of the job.
2.3.9. Cabinet Committees
The Cabinet makes use of the committee system to facilitate decision-
making in specific areas. The Business Rules provide for the constitution of
standing committees of the Cabinet to ensure speedy decisions on vital questions
of political and economic significance and other matters of importance as also to
ensure coordination in well-defined fields ofadministration. These committees
change according to the requirements of the situation and occasionally ad hoc
committees are appointed.
The number of such committees has been changing from time to time and
no outsider could tell exactly what the existing committees are at a given time.
However, the membership of the Cabinet Committees normally varies
from three to eight. The Chairmanship of them is shared between the Prime
Minister and Home Minister.The committees which function on a more or less
permanent basis are the Political Affairs Committee, Economic Affairs
Committee, Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, Appointments Committee,
Committee on Accommodation, Committee on Industry and Trade, and the
Committee on Food and Agriculture etc. Of these the most powerful is the
Political Affairs Committee. Consisting as it does of the senior most ministers, it
functions as a super Cabinet inproviding direction to the government.

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 The Cabinet Committees are instruments to organise coordination in
clearly defined fields of administration and relieve the Cabinet of their burden of
work. The flexibility in membership of these committees enable interested
Ministers to exchange views, and arrive at agreed solutions without involving the
Cabinet, thus, reducing pressure of work upon the latter. Lastly, there is
considerable sharing of work, with the result that many matters which could
otherwise travel up to the Cabinet for decision-making are settled at the level of
Cabinet Committees. This ensures continuous coordination on vital economic and
political issues, and speedy decision making when required.
Any matter which calls for a Cabinet decision may come directly to the
appropriate committee before the Cabinet takes a decision. The Cabinet may
often rarely accept the decision already taken by the Cabinet Committees.
However, despite the fact that some Cabinet Committees have often
exercised real authority, these committees have not been uniformly or
consistently .effective. Firstly, they do not cover all important areas @I
governmental functioning. Secondly, they can take up amatter only when it is
referred to by the Minister concerned or by the Cabinet. Lastly, they do not meet
regularly, which is absolutely necessary if sustained attention is to be given to
complex problems and the progress in implementation of important policies and
programmesis to be kept under constant review.
2.3.10. All India Services
A unique feature of the Indian Administration system, is the creation of
certain servicescommon to both - the Centre and the States, namely, the All India
Services. These arecomposed of officers who are in the exclusive employment of
neither Centre nor the States, and may at any time be at the disposal of either.
The officers of these Services are recruited on an all-India basis with common
qualifications and uniform scales of pay, and notwithstanding their division
among the States, each of them forms a single service with a common status and
a common standard of rights and remuneration.
Like other federal polities the Centre and the constituent states, under the
Indian Constitution, have their separate public services to administer their
respective affairs. Thus, there are Central or Union Services to administer Union
subjects, like defence, income tax, customs, posts and telegraphs, railways, etc.
The officers of these Services are exclusively in the employment of the Union
Government. Similarly, the states have their own separate and independent
services. Ever since the creation of the Indian Civil Service in the days of the East
India Company there has always existed in Indian an all India cadre of service.
All India cadres were introduced almost in all departments of the Central
Government. These services were, however, not under the control of the
Governor-general; they were directly under the Secretary of State for India and
his Council. No. All- India service officer could be dismissed from his service by
any other authority than the Secretary of State-in-Council. An officer hada right
of appeal to that body, if he was adversely dealt with in important disciplinary
matters. His salary, pension, etc. were not subject to the vote of any Indian
legislature.
These elitist Services, unresponsive and unaccountable to public opinion,
found itdifficult to adjust themselves to the reform-era introducing every limited
responsible government under the Government of India Act of 1919. The Lee
Commission in 1924 recommended the abolition of certain all India Services,

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particularly those dealing with departments that had been 'transferred' to Indian
hands under the Act of 1919 namely the Indian Educational Service, Indian
Agricultural Service, Indian Veterinary Service and the Roads and Building
Branch of the Indian Service of Engineers. It, however, recommended the
retention of the Indian Civil Service, Indian Police, Indian Forest Service, Indian
Medical Service and the Irrigation Branch of the Indian Service of Engineers. It
also recommended the increasing Indianisation of these Services. The
Commission further recommended that any British officer should be free to retire
on a proportionate pension if at any time the department in which they were
employed should be transferred to the control of responsible Indian ministers.
These recommendations were implemented in practice.
Further changes were made in the position of these Services by the
Government of India Act of 1935. Indians had always been demanding the
abolition of All India Services. It was argued before the Joint Select Committee
of the British Parliament considering the draft of
the Act of 1935, and emphasised by the British India delegation in their Joint
Memorandum. It stated that further recruitment by the Secretary of State of
Officers serving under the ProvincialGovernments which were to be handed over
to popular control was undesirable, and that Services in future be recruited and
controlled by the authorities in India. The Joint Committee, however, only partly
accepted such demands, and recommended the continuance of ICS, IP and IMS
(Civil). This recommendation 'was embodied in Section 224 of the Act of 1935.
Thus,at the time of transfer of power in 1947 recruitment was open only to two
all India services, namely the ICS and the IP, the recruitment to the IMS had been
suspended. The most important and the highest ranking of all such services was
the Indian Civil Service commonly known as the ICS which owing to its very
high remuneration and enormous authority and prestige, constituted the 'steel
frame' of the British Government of India. When the Britishwere leaving India,
there were ten all lndia services and twenty-two Central Services. While
guaranteeing the rights of the old Services, the new Indian Government had
foreseen the need for replacing them with Services controlled and manned by
Indians. In fact, as early asOctober, 1946, Sardar Patel, the then Home Member
in the Governor General's Executive Council, had secured the agreement of the
Provincial Governments to the formation of the two new all India services,
namely the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service
(IPS), which were to replace the old ICS and IP.
2.3.11. Constitution of All India Services
The Constitution also provides for the all India cadre of Civil Services. It
adopts specifically the IAS and the IPS cadres which had already been created
earlier (Article 312-2). It empowers the Union Parliament to create more of such
all India services whenever it is deemed necessary or expedient in the national
interest, provided the Council of States (the Upper House) passes a resolution to
the effect supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting
(Article 312-1). Since the Council of States is composed of the representatives of
different States, its support will ensure the consent of the States to the creation of
new Services. The Constitution also authorises the Parliament to regulate by
lawthe recruitment and the conditions of services of persons appointed to these
Services. Accordingly, the All India Service Act was passed by the Parliament
in October 1951. Since the inauguration of the Constitution only one, namely, the

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Indian Forest Service, has been setup.
In 1951 All India Services Act was passed. By virtue of powers conferred
by sub- section (1) of section (3) of this Act the Central Government framed new
sets of rules and regulations pertaining to the All India Services. It became
necessary because the old rules at certain places had become redundant. The
rules that were in force before commencement ofthe Act were also allowed to
continue. Thus, there came into existence two sets of rules regulating the
conditions of All India Services. The old rules made by the Secretary of State, or
the Governor General in Council, which regulated the conditions of service of
ICS and IP officers, and the new rules made under the 1951 Act were applicable
to the officers of the Indian Administrative and Police Services.
2.4. Indian Administrative Services
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the direct descendant of the
old Indian CivilService. As an all India service, it is under the ultimate control
of the Union Government, but is divided into State cadres, each under the
immediate control of a State Government. The
salary and the pension of these officers are met by the States. But the disciplinary
control and imposition of penalties rest with the Central Government which is
guided, in this respect, bythe advice of the Union Public Service Commission.
On appointment, the officers are posted to different State cadres. The strength of
each State cadre, however, is so fixed as to include a reserve of officers who can
be deputed for service under the Union Government for one or more 'tenures' of
three, four or five years before they return to the State cadre. This ensures thatthe
Union Government has at its disposal the services of officers with first-hand
knowledge and experience of conditions in the States, while the State
Governments have the advantage of their officers being familiar with the policies
and programmes of the Union Government. Such an arrangement works for the
mutual benefit of both governments. The majority of individual officers have an
opportunity of serving at least one spell of duty under the Union Government;
many have more than one such spell. The practice of rotating senior officers in
and out of the Secretariat position is known in official parlance as the tenure
system.
Another distinctive feature of this Service is its multi-purpose character.
It is composed of 'generalist administrators' who are expected, from time to time,
to hold posts involving a wide variety of duties and functions; for example,
maintenance of law and order, collection of revenue, regulation of trade,
commerce and industry, welfare activities development and extension work, etc.
In brief, the IAS is intended to serve all the purposes formerly served by the ICS
except providing officers for the judiciary. Thus, this Service is a kind of
generalist service, and its officers are liable for posting in almost any branch, of
the administration.
2.4.1. Importance of Indian Administrative Service
We will now discuss the distinct role of the Indian Administrative Service.
The Indian arrangement creating a common pool of officers, who are in the
exclusive employ of neither the centre nor the states and fill the top posts in both
Union and State administrations, comes nearest to the ideal of joint action, co-
operation and co-ordination, between the two levels of government as envisaged
in a federal polity. On the one hand, a single integrated federal service common
to both the Centre and the States would be a negation of State autonomy. On the

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other hand, if the federal government is denied its own services, one of the two
results may follow - either the State services will be reduced to the status of being
mere agents of the Central Government, or the Central Government may find
itself helpless in case of non- cooperative attitude on the part of the State services.
The Indian experiment avoids both by providing separate and independent Union
and State services and yet facilities coordination and cooperation, and, if
necessary, joint action between the two levels of government by creating a
common cadre of officers at the top level. It also avoids the possibility of the best
brains preferring Federal service to State service, leaving the latter to be manned
by the second or the third best. As it is, the all-India services, being recruited by
the Union Government on an all-1ndia basis, talent to States. No better way of
strengthening the State services can possibly be suggested. Again, constant
transfers of such officers from the States to the Centre and back makes them aware
of and conversant with the administrative problems at both levels of the
Government. Such officers, therefore, can be the best agents for carrying out
administrative coordination between the federal and State administration.
2.4.2. Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service is an original all India Service (it had pre-
independence origins) which differs from its compeer - the IAS in two ways: (i)
most of the officers in this
service work only in the state since there are only a few police posts at the Centre
and (ii) its pay scale and status are lower than those of the IAS. The officers of
the IPS are recruited from the same unified All India Civil Service examination
which recruits all members of the IAS, IFS and other Central Civil Services.
Recruits to the IPS are first given a five months foundational training and later
special training at the Sardar Pate1 National Police Academy, Hyderabad. The
subjects of study and the training is drill, handling of weapons, etc., which have
a direct bearing on the normal work of a police officer. The syllabus of training
includes studies of crime psychology, scientific aids in detection of crime,
methods of combating corruption and emergency relief. After completing a year's
training, the probationer passes an examination conducted by the UPSC. He is,
then appointed as an Assistant Superintendent of Police. But, before this
appointment he has to undergo a year's programme of training; he is given
practical training which requires him to do the work of various subordinate
officers. It is only after this that he is appointed an Assistant Superintendent of
Police.
As an all India Service it is under the ultimate control of the Union
Government, but is divided into state cadres, each under the immediate control of
a state government. The Indian Police Service is managed by the Ministry of
Home Affairs, though the general policies relating to its personnel are determined
by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms
2.5. Recruitment of All Indian Services
The recruitment is made by the Central Government on the basis of a
competitive examination annually conducted by the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC). The examination is a combined one - for a numb& of
services like the IFS, IAS, IPS and the Central Services Class I and 11. To appear
at the examination, a candidate must be between the age of 21. and 30. Only a
University graduate (one holding B.A. or B.Sc. or an equivalent degree) can
appear at the examination. The examination combines a written test of a high

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standard with a 'personality test' by the Union Public Service Commission in the
form of a personal interview. The former aims at judging the level of intelligence
and academic learning and the latter attempts to make a measure of the qualities
of personality and character. The examination system is .modelled on the British
'general' type rather than the American 'specialised' type.
There is a provision for relaxation of age up to a maximum of five years
for SCIST candidates and three years for candidates belonging to OBC category.
The number of permissible attempts to appear in the examination has been
restricted to four, with relaxationfor OBC candidates (seven attempts) and SCIST
candidates (no limit).
Prior to 1979 a single competitive examination used to be held. There were
three compulsory papers: Essay, General knowledge and General English - each
carrying 150 marks.But of a number of optional papers three papers of 200 marks
each, and two additional subjects (for IAS and IFS only) out of another list of
subjects each carrying 200 marks were to be offered. The candidates who
qualified in the, written examination were called for interview, which carried 300
marks. The candidates who failed to secure a minimum of 33% of qualifying
marks in the interview were declared unsuccessful, and it was abolished in 1958.
The interview marks were added to the marks obtained in the written papers. After
this, the Commission recommended the list of selected candidates in order of
merit to the government.
The above system of recruitment in the All India Services was criticized
from a number of view points, and the UPSC decided to review the system
thoroughly. For this purpose a Committee on Recruitment and Selection Methods
under the Chairmanship of Prof D.S: Kothari was appointed by the UPS
Committee submitted its report in 1976 and made the following
recommendations.
a. To hold a Preliminary examination to screen the candidates for the Main examination;
b. To hold the Main examination to select candidates for entry to the LBS
National Academy for a foundation course of about nine months;
c. To hold a post-training test of 400 marks to be conducted by the UPSC on
completion of the foundation course, the purpose being to assess personal
qualities and attributes relevant to the civil services;
d. To assign candidates to a particular service on the basis of the total marks
obtained in the Main examination and the Post-Training Text at LBS
Academy, taking into accountthe candidate's for the services;
e. To allow the candidates to answer all papers, except the language paper,
in any language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, or in
English.
The Kothari Committee's recommendations regarding the examination
scheme (preliminary and main) was accepted by the government, and it was
implemented by the UPSCin 1979.
2.5.1. Satish Chandra Committee
The UPSC set up another Committee in 1988 under the Chairmanship of
the former UGC Chairman Satish Chandra to review and evaluate the system of
selection to the higher Civil Services and to make suggestions for further
improvement. The Committee submitted its Report in I993 and the government
is gradually implementing some of the recommendations with effect from the

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Civil Service Examination of 1993.
The main recommendations as accepted by the government are:
1. The practice of holding a common examination should continue;
2. An essay paper should be introduced from 1993 examination, and the
candidates should be allowed to answer this paper in any one of the
languages included in the Eighth Schedule or in English;
3. The marks for the personality test should be raised from 250 marks to 300;
4. From the list of optional subjects certain languages like French, German,
Arabic, Palishould be excluded;
5. For both Preliminary and Main Examinations Medial Science should be
included as anoptional subject;
6. Allotment of services should be on the basis of the candidate's rank and preferences;
7. LBS Academy of Administration should be developed into a high level
professional institution;
8. Adequate infrastructural facilities and proper faculty support should be
provided to the training institutions;
9. The UGC may review the scheme of conducting coaching classes for
students belonging to the minority communities to enable them to compete
in various competitive examinations.
2.6. Present Pattern of Civil Services Examination
The pattern of Civil services examination has been designed to test the
academic expertise of a candidate and that candidate's ability to present
himself/herself in a systematic and coherent manner. The examination pattern
intends to assess the overall intellectual traits and understanding level of the
candidates. The competitive examination comprises three successive stages: (a)
Civil Services (Preliminary) examination, (b) Civil Services (Main) Examination,
and (c) Interview.
The preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type
(multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 400 marks: on paper on
general studies having 200 marks, and another paper of 200 marks on one subject
to be selected from a list of optional subjects.
The question papers are set in English and Hindi. There are nine papers of
which first two papers; one for Indian languages and the other for English with a
maximum mark of 300 each having qualifying nature. The remaining papers
(seven) are having merit ranking nature and each paper has a maximum mark of
250. Interview will be given a maximum mark of 275 and grant total is 2025
marks.

Qualifying Papers (Non-Ranking)

Paper A One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate300 Marks
from13 the languages included in the Eight Schedule to the
Constitution.
Paper B English 300 Marks
Papers to be Counted for Merit (Ranking)
Paper I Essay 250 Marks
Paper II General Studies I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and 250 Marks
Geography of the World and Society)

159
 Paper III General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social 250 Marks
Justice and International relations)
Paper IV General Studies III (Technology, Economic Development,250 Marks
Bio- diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster
Management)
Paper V General Studies IV ( Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) 250 Marks
Paper VI Optional Subject- Paper 13 250 Marks
Paper VII Optional Subject- Paper 2 250 Marks
For the optional papers in the Main Examination, UPSC has a
list of about twenty-six subjects out of which any one subject
has to be selected by the candidate.
Subtotal (Written Test) 1750 Marks
Personality Test (Interview) 275 Marks
Grand Total 2025 Marks
2.6.1. Training of All India Services
Recruits to All India and Central Services are given a five months'
foundational course and then special training in the training institutions for their
respective services. The idea underlying the (foundational) course is that the
higher services should acquire an understanding of the constitutional, economic
and social framework within which they have to function as these largely
determine the policies and programmes towards the framing and execution of
which they will have to make their contribution. They should, further, acquaint
themselves with the machinery of Government and the broad principles of Public
Administration. The foundational course is also intended to cover such matters as
aims and obligation of the Civil Service, and the ethics of the profession.
Foundational course also develops among recruits to different services a feeling
of belongingness to common public service and a broad common outlook. After
completing this five months' foundational course the probationers of the services
other than the IAS, leave for their respective training institutions for institutional
training, but the IAS probationers stay at the Academy to undergoa further course
of institutional training. From 1969, the Government has introduced a new
pattern of training called the sandwich course, for the Indian Administrative
Service. The new entrants to IAS undergo two spells of training at the Academy
with an interval of about a year - which is utilised for foundational course. After
completion of the foundational course and spell of institutional training at the
Academy, the probationer, as he is called, is sent to the State (to which he has
been allotted) for practical training. At the end of this training, he again comes to
the Academy for a second spell of a training where emphasis is placed on the
discussion of administrative problems the probationer has either encountered or
observed in the course of practical training in the State. This part of the training
is, thus, more problem-oriented. At the end of the second spell of training at the
Academy, the IAS probationer has to sit for a UPSC examination before being
given the charge of a sub-division in a district.

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 State Administration
The very first Article of our Constitution says, "India, that is 'Bharat', shall be a Union
of states." The word 'Union' has been used to mean 'Federation' in the US Constitution.
In our Constitution, however, the Union is not a Federation of the type set up by the
US Constitution. The Indian Constitution has several features of a Federation like the
dual government; distribution of powers between federal and state governments,
supremacy of the Constitution and final authority of courts to interpret the
Constitution. On the other hand, there are several unitary features like a unified
judicial system; integrated machinery for election, accounts and audit; power of
superintendence of union government over state government in emergencies and to
some extent even in normal times; single citizenship, etc. Due to these features, our
Constitution lays down a quasi-federal polity. Granville Austin has on the other
hand called our Federation a 'Cooperative Federalism' due to the need for close
cooperation between the Union government, and the state governments. The purpose
here is not to discuss in detail the nature of Indian Federation, but to put the study of
state administration in proper context. It is, therefore, enough for us to know that our
Constitution envisages a two-tier structure of governance - one at the Union or Central
level and the other at the state level. The powers and functions of the Central or Union
government and the state governments are specified in the Constitution. The Union
and the state governments function independently in their own spheres. Of course,
there is an area of overlapping responsibility and there are certain powers of
superintendence.
The Constitution has adopted a three-fold distribution of legislative
powers between the Union and the states (Article 246). Schedule VII of the
Constitution enumerates the subjects into three lists. List I or the Union List
consists of the subjects over which the Union has exclusive power of legislation.
Similarly, List I1 or the State List comprises subjects over which the state has
exclusive powers of legislation. There is yet another List (List III) known as the
Concurrent List that comprises subjects over which both the Union and states
have powers to legislate. The residual powers are vested in the Union.
3.1. State List
The State List comprises 61 items over which states have exclusive
jurisdiction. Some of the important ones are - Public Order and Police,
Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries, Public Health, Local Government, etc. These are
subjects of maximum concern to the people which can be better dealt with at the
state level. The subjects are generally under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
states, but under the following circumstances, the Parliament can legislate onthese
matters.
a. In national interest, Council of States by a resolution of 2/3rd of its
members present and voting may authorise the Parliament to legislate on
a state subject. Such authorisation may be for one year at a time, but can
be renewed by a fresh resolution;
b. Under a proclamation of emergency, the Parliament may legislate on a state subject;

161
 c. With the consent of two or more states, the Parliament may legislate on a
state subject with respect to the consenting states;
d. Parliament has powers to legislate with reference to any subject (including
a state subject) for the purpose of implementing treaties or international
agreements and conventions; and
e. When a proclamation is issued by the President on the failure of
Constitutional machinery in any state, he may declare that the powers of
the state legislature shall be exercised by or under the authority of
Parliament.
3.2. Concurrent List
The Concurrent List comprises 47 items over which the Union and state
legislatures have concurrent jurisdiction. The important ones are: Criminal Law
and Procedure, Marriage, Trusts, Civil Procedure, Insurance, Social and
Economic planning, etc.
While the Union and states can legislate on any of the subjects in the
Concurrent List, predominance is given to the Union Legislature. It means that in
case of repugnancy between the Union and a state law relating to the same
subject, the former prevails. If, however, thestate law was reserved for the assent
of the President and has received such assent, the state law may prevail
notwithstanding such repugnancy, but it would still be competent for the
Parliament to override such state law by subsequent legislation.
Any dispute about the interpretation of the entries in the three lists is to be
decided by the Courts. Following principles have been followed in such
interpretation:
a. In case of overlapping of a subject between the three lists, predominance
is to ,be givento the Union Legislature;
b. Each entry is given the widest importance that its words are capable of,
c. In order to determine whether a particular enactment falls under one
entry or another,its 'pith and substance' is considered.
3.3. Distribution of Executive Power
In general, the distribution of executive powers follows the distribution of
the legislative powers. It means that the state government has executive powers
in respect of subjects in the State List.
However, the executive power in respect of subjects in the Concurrent List
ordinarily remains with the state governments except in the following cases:
a. Where a law of Parliament relating to such subjects vests some executive
functions in the Uni6n, e.g., in Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
b. Where provisions of Constitution itself vest some executive functions upon
the Union, e.g., implementation of an international treaty or obligation.
Moreover, the Union has the power to give directions to the state governments in
the exercise of their executive powers in the following cases:
In Normal Times, the State Governments have to ensure:
i. Compliance with Union laws
ii. Exercise of executive power of the state does not interfere with the
exercise of the executive power of the Union
iii. Construction and maintenance of the means of communication of
national or militaryimportance by the state
iv. Protection of railways in the' state

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 v. Implementation of schemes for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
vi. The administration of a state is carried on in accordance with the
provisions of the Constitution.
In Emergencies
• The state government functions under the complete control of the Union Government
• The President may assume to himself all or any executive powers of the
state on proclamation of failure of Constitutional machinery in a state.
During a Financial Emergency
• The President can give directions to the state government to observe
canons of financialpropriety
• The President may reduce salaries and allowances of employees
• Money bills and other financial bills could to be reserved for consideration
of the President.
3.4. Role of Governor
Our Constitution provides for the Parliamentary form of government at
the Union as well as the state levels. The Governor is the Constitutional head of
the state and acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief
Minister. He is appointed by the President for a term of five years and holds office
during his pleasure. He can be reappointed after his tenure as Governor of the
same state or of another state.
According to the Constitution, the Governor has many executive,
legislative, judicial and emergency powers. For example, the Governor appoints
the Chief Minister and on his advice the Council of Ministers. He makes many
other appointments like those of members of the State Public Service
Commission, Advocate General, Senior Civil Servant, etc. In fact, the entire
executive work of the state is carried on in his name.
The Governor is a part of the State Legislature. He has a right of
addressing andsending messages to and of summoning, proroguing the State
Legislature and dissolving the Lower House. All the bills passed by the
Legislature have to be assented to by him beforebecoming the law. He can
withhold his assent to the Bill passed by the Legislature and send it back for
reconsideration. If it is again passed with or without modification, the Governor
has to give his assent. He may also reserve any Bill passed by the State
Legislature for the assent of the President. The Governor may also issue an
Ordinance when the legislature is not in session.The Governor even has the power
to grant pardon, reprieve, respite, and remission of punishment or to suspend,
remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any
offence against any law related to a matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
As far as the emergency powers of the Governor are concerned, whenever
the Governor is satisfied that a situation has arisen in his state whereby the
administration of the state cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions
of the Constitution, he can report the fact to the President. On receipt of such a
report, the President may assume to himself the powers of the state government
and may reserve for the Parliament the powers of the State Legislature (Article
356).
3.5.1. Exercise of Discretion by the Governor
It has already been pointed out that the Governor has to exercise his
powers on the advice of the Council of Ministers. He does not, therefore, have
much discretion in the exerciseof his powers as long as a stable Ministry enjoying
163
the confidence of the Assembly is in office.
However, this is not always the case. The Governor may then be called upon to
exercise his discretion. It is this exercise of discretion that has made the
Governor's office the mostcontroversial Constitutional office of the country.
3.5.2. Appointment of Chief Ministers:
The Governor appoints the Chief Minister and on his advice the Council
of Ministers. When a party with absolute majority elects a leader. The Governor
has no choice but to appoint him the Chief Minister and invite him to form the
government. Problems arise when no political party has an absolute majority in
the legislature. Here the discretion of the Governor comes into play.
3.5.3. Dismissal of a Ministry
A Chief Minister and his Ministry hold office during the pleasure of the
Governor, which is not subject to any scrutiny. However, the Governor has to
exercise his discretion judiciously. There is a general feeling that the Governors
have not done so.
Dissolution of the Assembly: The governor can dissolve the assembly on
the recommendation of the council of ministers headed by the chief minister.
3.5.4. Emergency and role of Governor
It has also been alleged that the Governors have not used their discretion
judiciously in advising the President for using his emergency powers under
Article 356 of the Constitution. In 1959 itself, the Governor of Kerala reported to
the President that due to failure of law and order, the government of the state
could not be carried on according to the provisions of the Constitution. The first
non-Congress state government of the country was thrown out by the President
on the basis of this report, which was severely criticised by all sections of the
Opposition. In 1984, the Governors of J&K and Andhra Pradesh verified the
numerical support of the ruling (non-Congress) parties in the Assembly and
hurriedly advised the dismissal of the state governments on the ground that in the
absence of stable majorities, the governments of these states could not be carried
on according to the Constitution. In either case, the majority of the government
was not tested on the floor of the Assembly. Moreover, in case of Andhra Pradesh
even the arithmetic of numbers proved to be incorrect. In these cases, there were
open allegations also that the Governors had tried to reduce the state governments
to a minority.
3.5. The State Council of Ministers
The executive power of the state is exercised in the name of the Governor,
who is the Constitutional head of the state. But, the Governor has to have a
Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head to aid and advise him.
But for a few discretionary functions, the Governor has to act on the advice of the
Council of Ministers. It means that the real executive power is exercised by the
Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of
the Chief Minister and hold Office during his pleasure. It means that a minister
can also be dismissed by the Governor on the advice of the chief minister.
On the pattern of the Union government, ministers in the state
governments are of the following categories:
1. Cabinet Ministers
2. Ministers of State
3. Deputy Ministers
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 4. Parliamentary Secretaries
As per the Ninety First Constitutional Amendment Act 2003, the total
number .of Ministers including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in
a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the
Legislative Assembly of the State, provided that number of Ministers, including
the Chief Minister in a State shall not be less thantwelve. This is the first time that
such an Amendment providing for the total strength of Ministers has been
enacted.
3.7.1. Powers and Functions of the Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers is the highest policy-making body of the state
government. It lays down policy in respect to all matters within the legislative
and administrative competence of the state government. The Council also reviews
the implementation of the policy laid down by it and can revise any policy in view
of the feedback received during implementation. Since the Governor has to
exercise his executive powers on the advice of the Council of Ministers and all
the executive power is exercised in the name of the Governor, there is no
limitation on the powers of the Council except the following:
a. The limits imposed by the Constitution and the laws passed by the Union
and State Legislature.
b. Self-imposed limits to exclude consideration of less important matters.
3.8. Division of Work into Departments at the State Level
According to the doctrine of Ministerial Responsibility, the Council of
Ministers is collectively responsible to, the State Assembly. It is, however,
impossible for the Council to take all the decisions collectively. During the early
British period, the administration of thestate was carried on by the Governor-in-
Council. At that time, most of the decisions were taken collectively, because the
number of decisions to be taken was not very large. With the passage of time, the
scope of governmental activity increased and the matters that came up for the
decision of the Council also proliferated. This led to the development of 'portfolio
system' in which the Councillors were placed in charge of certain specified
subjects leaving only a few important matters to be placed before the whole
Council. The same system has continued after Independence. Under our
Constitution, the Governor has to make rules for the efficient conduct of business
[Article 166(3)]. The state governments have framed 'Allocation of Business
Rules', according to which the work is divided among different ministers. This
division of work can be done on the basis of functions, or on the basis of clientele,
or on geographical basis or on the basis of the combination of these factors. Very
often, the division of work is decided on personal considerations rather than
rational criteria. Most of the work in respect of subjects allotted to a minister is
disposed of by the minister. However, according to the rules of business, some
matters have to be reserved by the minister for:
3.8.1. Consideration of the Chief Minister
These are called coordination cases. In these cases, the minister in charge
of, a portfolio, records his recommendations and submits the file to the Chief
Minister for his orders. Rules of business give a list of such cases. The Chief
Minister may also reserve some cases or classes of cases for his orders.
3.8.2. Presentation before the Cabinet
These are important policy matters, which have wide repercussions.
Important cases of disagreement between two or more ministers are also
brought before the Cabinet for its
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decision. A list of such cases is given in the rules of business. In addition, the
Chief Minister may require any particular case of any department to be placed
before the Cabinet. A few of the typical Cabinet cases are given below:
i) Annual Financial Statement to be laid before the Legislature and
demands forsupplementary grants
ii) Proposals affecting state finance not approved by the Finance Minister
iii) Exemption of important matters from the purview of State Public Service Commission
iv) Proposals for imposition of new taxes, etc.
3.9. The Chief Minister
The Chief Minister performs the same functions in respect of the state
government as the Prime Minister does in respect of the Union Government.
Although the real i executive power of the state government vests in the Council
of Ministers, the Chief Minister has acquired a very special role in the exercise of
this executive power. He is not the first among equals, but is the prime mover of
the executive government of the state. The Chief Minister is appointed by the
Governor and holds Office during his pleasure. However, when a single political
party has an absolute majority in the Assembly, the Governor has only a
ceremonial role in these matters. He has to invite the leader of the majority party
to form the government and cannot dismiss him so long as he enjoys the
confidence of the Assembly. The only exception probably may occur when the
majority party changes its leader in the Assembly. Of course, the Governor does
have some discretion in these matters during periods of instability when no single
party can claim an absolute majority in the Assembly.
3.9.1. Powers of the Chief Minister in Relation to the Council of Ministers
The Chief Minister is the leader of the Council of Ministers. With the
passage of time, the position of Chief Minister has strengthened vis-his his
Council of Ministers. He has to assign portfolios among his ministers and can
change such portfolios when he likes. He plays a coordinating role in the
functioning of his Council of Ministers. He has to see that thedecisions of the
various departments are coherent. He has to lead and defend his Council of
Ministers in the Assembly. In short, he has to ensure the collective responsibility
of the Council of Ministers to the State Assembly. The Chief Minister sets the
agenda for the Cabinetand greatly influences its decisions. He takes decisions on
important matters of coordination even though these are allotted to individual
ministers. Moreover, the Governor appoints the Council of Ministers on the
advice of the Chief Minister and the ministers hold Office during the pleasure of
the Governor. As a result of these provisions, the Minister, in fact, holds Office
during the pleasure of the Chief Minister. This power of dismissing the
ministers at will andthe power to change their portfolios has greatly strengthened
the power of the Chief Minister in relation to his ministers and ultimately the
Council of Ministers.
It must also be realised that the power of the Chief Minister in relation to
his Council of Ministers also depends on political conditions prevailing in the
state. If a cohesive party has an absolute majority in the Assembly, the Chief
Minister becomes very powerful and the ministers are afraid of him. His power
is further enhanced in case of a state-wide regional partyfor, in that case he is not
subject to the discipline of the national leadership. The position of a Chief
Minister gets weakened if he heads a coalition government or a faction-ridden

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party. In
either case, he or she has to effect compromises to keep a balance among the
coalition partners or various factions within the party.
3.9.2. Powers of the Chief Minister in Relation to the Governor
The powers of Chief Minister in relation to the Governor have not been
mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. A convention was sought to be
established whereby the Chief Minister could be consulted regarding the
appointment of the Governor in his state. Even this has not been followed by the
Union government in many cases. The only other power, which can be indirectly
inferred from the Constitution is the power to exercise executive power of the
state in the appointment of the Governor. All the public appearances of the
Governor and the speeches delivered by him on such occasions have to be in
accordance with policy laid downby the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief
Minister. Similarly, the speeches of the Governor on ceremonial occasions and
the annual speech before the Assembly have to be approved by the Cabinet.
3.9.3. Powers of the Chief Minister in Relation to the Legislature
The Chief Minister is also the leader of the House. Apart from this formal
position, the Chief Minister provides real legislative leadership to the House in
the sense that -he sets the legislative agenda. The legislative measures are brought
before the Assembly after the approval of the Council of Ministers headed by
the Chief Minister. It is true that private members may also bring a Bill before the
Assembly. But, that has a limited chance of success. Apart from the fact that it
has ao backing of the majority party, the private members do not have the wealth
of information that is available to the government. Apart from setting up the
legislative agenda, the Chief Minister has to keep the Assembly informed about
the various activities of the government by answering questions, making
statements, intervening in the debates, etc.
3.9.4.Powers of the Chief Minister in Relation to the Executive
By virtue of being the head of the political executive, the Chief Minister
controls the entire bureaucracy of the state. In this function, he is assisted by the
Secretariat headed by the Chief Secretary. He approves all senior appointments
like those of Secretaries, Additional/ Joint/Deputy Secretaries. Heads of the
Departments, Chairpersons and Managing Directors of Public Sector
Undertakings, etc. Through his Cabinet, he controls their service conditions and
disciplinary matters. He provides them leadership to ensure good performance
and goodmorale. At the same time, he has to keep a watch on their performance
through administrative channels as well as through his own sources like party
workers, complaints from aggrieved persons and actual observation during tours
etc.
3.10. State Secretariat
No Ministry can run smoothly without the support of a Secretariat at the
Union as well as state levels. The Secretariat helps the government in policy
making and execution of legislative functions. This Unit discusses the
organisation and functions, of the State secretariat. It explains the pattern of for
its decision. A list of such cases is given in the rules of business. In addition, the
Chief Minister may require any particular case of any department to be placed
before the Cabinet. A few of the typical Cabinet cases are given below:
departmentalisation in the Secretariat and brings out the distinction between the

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secretariat department and executive department.
The three components of government at the state level are: (i) the minister;
(ii) the secretary, and (iii) the executive head. (The last one in most cases is called
the director, although other nomenclatures are also used to refer to the executive
head). The minister and the secretary together constitute the Secretariat, whereas
the office of the executive head is designated as the Directorate. Literally, the
term 'Secretariat' means the secretary's office. It originated at a time when what
we had in India was really a government run by the secretaries. After
independence power was transferred to the elected representatives. The Ministry
became the seat of authority. In the changed political situation, the term
Secretariat has become a synonym for the minister's office. But because the
secretary is the principal adviser to the minister, he needs to be in the physical
vicinity of the minister. In effect, therefore, Secretariat refers to the complex of
buildings that houses the office of ministers and secretaries.
The Administrative Reform Commission states the State Secretariat, as
the top layer of the state administration, is primarily meant to assist the state
government in policy making and in discharging its legislative functions. It also
acts "as a memory and a clearing house, preparatory to certain types of decisions
and as a general supervisor of executive action".
The main functions of the State Secretariat are broadly as follows:
1. Assisting the ministers in policy making, in modifying policies from time
to time and indischarging their legislative responsibilities
2. Framing draft legislation, and rules and regulations
3. Coordinating policies and programmes, supervising and controlling their
execution, andreviewing of the results
4. Budgeting and control of expenditure
5. Maintaining contact with the Government of India and other state governments; and
6. Overseeing the smooth and efficient running of the administrative
machinery and- initiating measures to develop greater personnel and
organisational competence.
The administrative philosophy to which the secretariat system owes its existence
is that policy making must be kept separate from policy execution. Several
advantages are claimed in favour of such an arrangement:
1. Freedom from operational involvement makes the policy makes the
state apparatus forward looking and allows it to think in terms of
overall goals of government rather than narrow, sectional interests of
individual departments.
2. Policy making receives the time and attention it deserves. This is
because, policy making, is a serious exercise in drawing up what would
be a future course of action.
3. Secretariat serves as a disinterested adviser to the minister. It is
important to remember that the secretary is the secretary to the
government and not to the minister concerned.
4. Policy making must be separated from current administration and day-
to-day implementation should be left to a different agency with
executive freedom, which ensures delegation of authority.
The foremost function of the secretariat is to assist policy making. It has
many allied functions and dimensions. First, the secretary supplies to the minister

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all the data and information needed for policy formulation. Second, the secretaries
sometimes provide the programmes, with content by working out their details,
on whose strength ministers are voted
to power. Third, the Secretariat assists ministers in their legislative work. Drafts
of legislations to be introduced in the legislature by ministers are prepared by the
secretaries. Besides, to answer questions in the Legislature, the minister needs
relevant information; the secretary supplies this information to the minister.
Secretary also collects information required with respect to the legislative
committees. Fourth, the Secretariat functions as an institutionalised memory. This
means that the emerging problems require an examination in the light of
precedents. Records and files maintained in the Secretariat serve as an
institutional memory and ensure continuity and consistency in the disposal of
cases. Fifth, the Secretariat is a channel of communication between one
government and another, and between the government and such agencies as the
Planning Commission and Finance Commission. Finally, the Secretariat
evaluates and keeps track of execution of policies by the field agencies.
3.10.1. Structure of the State Secretariat
Conventionally, the officers' hierarchy has had three levels. Under this, a
typical administrative department is headed by a secretary who will have a
complement of deputy secretaries and under assistant secretaries. But with growth
in the functions of various secretariat departments, the number of levels in the
officers' hierarchy has been on the increase.As a result, between the secretary and
the deputy secretary, in some states, positions of additional and/or joint
secretaries have also been created. A unique feature of the Secretariat System in
India has been the distinction between its two component parts - "the transitory
cadre of a few superior officers" and "the permanent office".
The officers in each department, because they hold tenure posts, come and
go. It is the office, which is manned by permanent functionaries, which provides
the much needed element of continuity to the secretariat department. Unlike
officers, the office constitutes the permanent element in the secretariat system.
The office component is comprised of superintendents (or section officers),
assistants, upper and lower division clerks, steno-typists and typists. Office
performs the spadework on the basis of which the officers consider cases and
make decisions. Office supplies officers with materials, which constitute the basis
for decision-making.
3.11. The structure of a typical department comprises:
Department - Secretary
Wing - Additional Joint
Secretary Division -
Deputy Secretary
Director
Branch - Under Secretary Section - Section Officer
The section is the lowest organisational unit and it is under the charge of
a section officer. Other functionaries in a section are assistants, upper and lower
division clerks, steno- typists, typists, etc. A section is referred to as the office.
Two sections constitute the branch, which is under the charge of an under-
secretary. Two branches ordinarily form a division, which is headed by a deputy
secretary. When the volume of work of a department is more than a secretary can

169
manage, one or more wings are established with a joint secretary in charge of
each wing. At the top of the organisational hierarchy is the secretary who is in
charge of the department
3.12. Pattern of Departmentalisation in State Secretariat
Each secretary is normally in charge of more than one department. The
number of secretariat departments would therefore be larger than the number of
secretaries. The number
of secretariat departments, quite naturally, varies from state to state. Their number
broadly ranges between 10 and 40 in different states. The number of departments
in a particular state is not necessarily related to its size in terms of population. For
instance, a small state like Mizoram had as many as 36 secretariat departments in
1987, the corresponding figure for Andhra Pradesh (which is a much larger state),
was 19 in 1982.
Following is a typical example of the pattern of departmentalisation at the Secretariat Level:
• General Administration Department
• Home Department
• Revenue Department
• Food and Agriculture Department
• Finance and Planning Department (Planning Wing)
• Finance and Planning Department (Finance Wing)
• Law Department irrigation and Power Department
• Medical and Health Department
• Education Department
• Industries Department
• legislature Department
• Panchayati Raj Department
• Command Area Development Department
• Transport, Roads and Buildings Department
• Housing and Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department
• Labour, Employment and Technical Education Department
• Social Welfare Department
• Rural Development Department
• Forest Department
• Environment Department
• Women and Child Welfare Department
There is a lot of criticism about the work allocation existing in the secretariat
departments, which is: First, work allocation is lop-sided in that some departments are
burdened with more work than others. Second, allocation is far from rational even in
terms of homogeneity of work. Not only are the subjects handled by a particular
department too numerous and therefore unmanageable but these are also too
heterogeneous, causing problems of coordination. These are rather aggravated when
charges of particular departments are incomplete in scope.

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 District Administration
District as a basic unit of field administration has been in existence through
the ages. Itis surprising to know that it has not changed substantially since the
times of Manu in hisdescription of a district in Manusmrithi where 1000 villages
were grouped together to form adistrict and placed under the charge of an officer.
However, the territorial structure ofadministration of India can be traced to the
Mauryan era where revenue villages were called 'gramas',a group of revenue
villages called 'stana'(visaya or taluk), several 'stanas' called 'aharas' or the
District,a group of Districts called 'Pradesh' or the region/state and several
'pradeshas' called the 'Janapada' or a province/country.
The head of the District Administration had both revenue as well as police
functions and is comparable to the present day District Collector. The District
Collector's office succeeded the office of Kirori/Faujdar in the Mughal period.
Under the British rule and their experiments with the field of administration, in
1781 the district again became the unit of administration under the District
Collector as the District head. Thus, the present day District Administration has
historical roots. However, this was non transparent and was laid out for loyalty to
the British rule and establish its hegemony through the length and breadth of the
country through a strong, disciplined and supervised office of the District
Collector for regular collection of revenue.
The District in India is the cutting edge of administration. The District
administration is headed by the District Collector/Deputy Commissioner, drawn
from IAS and he is responsible among others for the general control and direction
of the police which is headed by the Superintendent ofPolice. The District is split
up into a number of sub divisions called 'Talukas' for the purpose of
Administrative convenience. And to have a better supervision of the many Taluks,
there has been a grouping of the taluks,each group of taluks under a Division
which is headed by an official called 'Tehsildar'. These Tehsildars are state level
officers and are called sub divisional or revenue divisional officers. Right at the
bottom of Dsitrict>Divisions>Taluks there are the basic units which are the
villages. in some states the Blocks and Taluks are coterminous in District
Administration. The District Collector through the ZIilaParishads, Blocks
(PanchayatSamithis)/Taluks and Gram Panchayat administer development
programmes and supervises them. However, massive non-transparency due to
illiteracy among people these officials are often found involved in wrong doings
and erratic behaviour as well as functioning as agents of the ruling state party or
Union/centre's leading to revolts and outbursts from time to time. District
Collector (DC) is also known as the Deputy Commissioner in states like
Karnataka and Punjab.
Ever since the creation of this office in 1772, the District Collector's office
continues to be the administrative head of District Administration. Basically, the
DC has three major functions namely revenue, magisterial and developmental.
Apart from these major functions, a large number of miscellaneous functions are
also entrusted to him by state and Central governments like conduct of elections,
dealing with calamities, supervising local govt. institutions, etc.. Collector was
mainly entrusted with revenue administration, however, since Independence with
the considerable change in the nature of the state from police rule to
development and welfare his role to have shown a shift in the direction of

171
development as he implements all the development programmes. The collector
has overall control of the police administration of a state and this he is assisted by
the Superintendent of the Police who is in charge of the whole district police
force. The Collector advises the government on various aspects of law and order.
Since he is a Generalist, he coordinates the activities of overall departments under
Specialists like Engineers, doctors, etc. by holding meetings among them at
periodic intervals. He is also to be the Friend, Philosopher and Guide of the
Panchayati Raj Institutions.
4.1. Evolution of the office of the District Collector
The office of the District Collector in India has a long history. Its origin is
related to theconcept of a territorial unit of administration. During the Mauryan
period the kingdom was divided into convenient territorial units and each unit
was placed under the charge of an imperial authority. The authority who was
important to the District Collector during that periodwas known as 'Raja'. Though
they were essentially revenue officers, they exercised judicial functions also.
Rajukas, collected land revenue, maintained roads, promoted trade and industry
and carried out public works like irrigation. During the Gupta period they were
called 'visayapathis', who were Heads of 'visayas', which were equivalent to the
modern districts. The visayapathi was responsible for the general administration
including collection of taxes and other revenues. They also commanded military
force to maintain law and order in the visaya. The Mughal rulers followed the
system of administration of Hindu Kings. Under the Mughal system the 'circar',
which is comparable to the modern district had three officers viz. Amalguzar,
Amir Zuazi and Faujdar. The Amalguzar was a principal revenue functionary of
the circar and was responsible for the collection of revenue and proper utilisation
of land. He also exercised certain administrative functions like punishing the
robbers and some quasi- judicial functions like settlement of disputed claims on
land. However, he was basicallyresponsible of the collection and management of
land revenue. Though, during, Mughal period Faujdar enjoyed a dominant
position in the district administration, Amalguzar performed all revenue
functions. Thus, before the advent of the British, there were territorial divisions
and officers of these divisions were responsible for realisation of land revenue.
These revenue officials were generally invested with several power and functions.
It was, no doubt, considered a feudal form of territorial organisation. The
territorial gradation of administrative areas more br less remained the same
notwithstanding the changes that were brought about in the system by the British.
The British built on the oriental system and established the present system
of field administration. The creation of a district as unit of administration and the
appointment of the District Collector as Head of District Administration laid the
foundation for stable administration in India. Granting of 'diwani' (civil
administration) in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company in 1765
marks the beginning of British revenue administration in India. In 1769 the
Company launched a scheme of English supervision over the local revenue
collecting institutions. East India Companyappointed covenanted servants as
supervisors during 1769-70 in the districts of the diwani provinces. The
supervisors were expected toreport on the production and capacity of the lands;
amount of revenues and other taxes levied; and manner of collection etc. They
were expected not only to be concerned with revenue collection but also to have
an overall knowledge of all the factors that affected the district. But

172
the system failed and the company decided in 1772 to take over the entire
executive management of public revenues. Accordingly, Warren Hastigns issued
a proclamation. On May 14th 1772 the supervisors were appointed as Collectors.
Thus, the institution of Collector was created for the first time in 1772 during the
period of Warren Hastings. From then onwards collection of revenue became the
most important duty of the company's civil servants. The office of the District
Collector became an important institution of the British local administration.
They were entrusted with the executive power of management and collection of
revenue and other duties of enquiry and investigation. From then onwards the
Collector's role has gone through several changes that is period of strength,
neglect etc. By the time India gained independence the District Collector had
become an important functionaryheading the District Administration.
4.1.1. Functions of the Collector
The office of the Collector is an important institution transmitted by the
British rulers to the Indian administrative system. He performs traditional
revenue function as well asdevelopment functions. Throughout the country, the
power and functions of the Collector, more or less, remain the same. Broadly, the
Collector performs the following functions:
Head of Revenue
Administration; Head of
Police Administration,
Head of District
Administration, and An
agent of the
Government
The Collector started as a revenue functionary and he continues to be the
principal Revenue Officer and Head of the Revenue Administration in the district.
After independence, the importance of revenue administration has become
secondary. The emphasis has shifted to Development Administration, though the
revenue functions still remain with the District Collector. Besides collection of
revenue, the Collectors,' are responsible for the collection of all other duties like
takkavi loans and dues belonging to other Departments. Maintenance of land
records and collection of statistics at the village level are some other functions of
the Collector. He exercises appellate jurisdiction in revenue cases. The recovery
of arrears of land revenue in I respect of all Departments is the responsibility of
the Collector. In the discharge of I his revenue functions, many officers like the
Revenue Divisional Officers, Tahsildars, Revenue Inspectors and Village
Officers assist the Collector.
Tahsildars, Revenue Inspectors and Village Officers assist the Collector.
As the Headof the Revenue Administration, he is the kingpin of relief operations
in i the district. In emergency situation like floods and famines the Collector plays
a very crucial role in relief operations. The Government takes decision regarding
the quantum of relief and the manner of distribution mostly on the basis of
assessment made by the Collector.
4.1.2. Law and Order
District Collector also functions as District Magistrate and is responsible
for the maintenance of law and order in the district. After the separation of
judiciary from the executive, the Collector is concerned with the preventive
sections of the criminal procedure code. As District Magistrate, he is Head of the
Police Administration of the district. In this function, Superintendent of Police
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who is the Head of police force in the district helps the Collector in discharge of
his police functions. In all important matters, the Superintendent of Police takes
orders from the Collector. There have been many instances of strained
Relations between the Collector and the Superintendent of Police. In certain
situations, lack of understanding between the two affect the entire District
Administration.
4.1.3. Head of District Administration
The Collector continues to be the Head of the District Administration. As
District Magistrate, he is responsible for the maintenance of law and order. As
chief revenue officer, he is responsible for the collection of revenues. He is also
closely associated with several other Departments like Education, Industries,
Cooperatives, Public Works, etc. In respect of Panchayati Raj, in several States,
he has a very important relationship with the Panchayati Raj bodies. As a Head
of the district administration, he plays a coordinating role between different
Departments like Revenue, Police and other Departments. The Collector
supervises the working of municipalities. He has power to suspend the
resolutions of local bodies, if they constitute a threat to public peace. He also
Heads a number of official and non-official bodies in the district like the Road
Transport Authority, District Employment Committee, Welfare Committees, Red
Cross Society, etc. The amount of time he spends on these activities depends on
his personal interest.
4.1.4. An Agent of the Government
He is looked upon as an agent of the Government at the district level. He
hoists the national flag on Independence and Republic days. He has several
protocol functions like meeting the Ministers and other important dignitaries. In
emergencies like floods and famines, he can call upon any branch of the District
Administration to undertake any specific work to provide assistance to Census
operations and conduct of elections to various democratic bodies from the
Parliament to the Gram Panchayat is another important function. The Collector is
alsoan agent of the Governor in respect of scheduled tribes' areas in some of the
districts. There are other functions also with which the Collector is intimately
associated like social security, pensions, excise, grant of licenses for arms, etc.
The scarcity and rising prices due to public distribution system has become an
important part of district administration. He is directly responsible for the
distribution and control of all essential commodities and goods. He issues licenses
for trading in food grains and other commodities. As Head of the distribution
system, he is expected to ensure timely and equitable distribution of scarce
commodities. The collector presides over a large number of meetings like
meetings of Coordination Committee, Development Committee, Irrigation
Committee etc. These are excellent forums for the Collector to know the way
policies are translated into action and to come into contact with the local people
and understand their problems.
After independence, the Collector has become responsible for the
implementation of the development programmes in the district. As an
administrator, he is expected to coordinate all the development programmes being
implemented in the district. The Collector's role in development administration is
more visible in case of Panchayati Raj Institutions. He is closely associated with
these institutions either from within or outside. The advent of Panchayati Raj
Institutions in India has brought about several changes in the set up of the district

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administration. This is particularly so in case of the role and functions of the
District Collector.Balwantrai Mehta Committee recommended that the Collector
should be the Chairman of ZillaParishad. At the time of establishment of
Panchayati Raj, critics argued that Collectors should not Head the democratic
bodies, this would not be in consonance with the spirit of decentralisation. It
would curb the democratic spirit. In practice, different types of linkages
were established between the Collector and the Panchayati Raj Institutions in
different States. In Rajasthan, for example, the Collector was made an associate
member of ZillaParishad without the right to vote. In Andhra Pradesh, he was
made a full member of ZillaParishad and chairman of all the standing committees.
Later, however in Andhra Pradesh, the Collector was disassociated from
ZillaParishad. In Maharashtra, the Collector was kept out of ZillaParishad. But,
generally it is felt that the Collectors should have a large share of responsibility
in facilitating the success of Panchayati Raj Institutions. Over the years, four
patterns of the role of Collector, vis-a-visZillaParishad have emerged. First of all
the collector is the chairman of the ZillaParishad.
Secondly, the Collector has been kept out of ZillaParishad completely
because of a feeling that it would burden the Collector, who is already
overburdened. In some States, the Collector is made Chairman of the standing
committees vested with power and decision- making. Finally, in some States, the
Collector is a member of ZillaParishad without right to vote.
The relationship between Collector and Panchayati Raj Institutions can be
studied under different heads namely control over staff, power to suspend
resolutions, power to remove officers, and power to suspend and dissolve
Panchayati Raj Institutions. In these areas, the role of Collector varies from state
and state. Some aspects of this would be discussed later in the Unit on Panchayati
Raj. The Collector has power to write confidential report and has authority to
inflict various punishments, such power vary from state to state. Similarly, the
Collector can suspend the resolutions of Panchayats. An association with these
bodies will bring the Collector in intimate relationship with the people's
representatives. This provides him an opportunity to understand the dynamics of
Development Administration at the district level.
In practice, the role assigned to him varies from state to state as
mentioned below: In Tamil Nadu he is the Chairman of District
Development Council.
In the States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar he is entitled to attend the
meetings of the PanchayatSamiti and its standing committees but without a right
to vote. i In Maharashtra and West Bengal he is kept out of the ZillaParishad. In
Andhra Pradesh, he is not only the member of the ZillaParishad but also the
Chairman of all the standing committees in whom executive authority is vested.
In the States of Assam, Punjab and Rajasthan, the Collector is a non-voting
member of the ZillaParishad and he is associated in a purely advisory capacity. It
shows that there is an unconcealed reluctance to have his involvement in the
decision-making processes of rural democracy.
After 73rd Constitutional Amendment, the relationship of District
Collector with Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) has changed immensely. The
Constitutional amendment andthe enactment of Panchayati Raj laws by various
States in 1993 has reduced the burden of the District Collector on development
activities. This Act has given scope to the State Government to set forth the

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yardstick of the relationship of the PRIs and the Collector. In this context, some
States have created the post of Chief Executive Officer and some States have
opted for District Development Officer or Deputy District Commissioner. In the
States like Rajasthan, the Collector is a nominated member of the District
Planning Committee (DPC). Whereas, in someother States like Madhya Pradesh
the Collector is the Member and Secretary of the DPC.
Before these changes, District Collector in Madhya Pradesh had access to Rs.10
lakh for development works, which has now been hiked to Rs. 1 crore, making
him more powerful.
However, in Andhra Pradesh the Collector as the Head of the District
Administration. Continues to co-ordinate the development activities. In the
capacity of an ex-officio member, he attends the meetings of ZillaParidshad and
its standing committees, and participate in their discussions. He participates and
attends the meetings but without the right to vote on the resolutions. The District
Collector has the authority to suspend or cancel any resolution passed by these
bodies; initiate action in the event of default; suspend the Chairman (ZP), the
President (MP) and the Sarpanch (GP) and dissolve the ZilaParishad /
MandalParishad 1 Gram Panchayat and any of the Standing Committees. It has
been observed from the study on Maharashtra that District Collector has limited
role to play in the PFUs. He has an important role in elections or reporting
regarding resolutions, such as no confidence against officebearers.
The Administrative Reforms Commission recommended that all the
development functions should be entrusted to the ZillaParishad. The Collector
should only be responsiblefor regulatory functions. In the context of transfer of
development functions, the Committee felt, it would enable the Collector to
devote more time and attention to his regulatory functions. This will help to
improve the general administrative climate in the district. The Committee on
Panchayati Raj Headed by Asoka Mehta also recommended the separation of
development functions and entrusting them to the Chief Executive Officer. Thus,
even after implementation of 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, there is no
uniform pattern with regard to the position of the District Collector in relation to
the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
4.2. Urban Administration - 74th Constitutional Amendment and its impact
This Act has added Part IX-A to the Constitution of India. It is entitled as
“The Municipalities’ and consists of provisions from articles 243-P to 243-ZG.
In addition, the Act has also added Twelfth Schedule to the Constitution. It
contains 18 functional items of municipalities and deals with Article 243-W.The
Act gave constitutional status to the municipalities. It has brought them under the
purview of justiciable part of the constitution.In other words, state governments
are under constitutional obligation to adopt the new system of municipalities in
accordance with the provisions of the Act.
The Act aims at revitalizing and strengthening the urban governments so
that they function effectively as units of local government. The salient features of
the Act are:
4.2.1. Three Types of Municipalities:
The Act provides for the constitution of the following three types of
municipalities in every state.
• Nagar Panchayat (by whatever name called) for a transitional area, that
is, an area intransition from a rural area to an urban area.

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 • Municipality for a smaller urban area.
• Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area
• A transitional area, a smaller urban area or a larger urban area means such
area as the Governor may specify by public notification for this purpose
with regard to the following factors.
Populatio
n of the
area
Density
of
populatio
n
Revenue generated for local administration
Percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities
Economic importance or such other factors as the Governor may deem fit.
4.2.2. Composition
All the members of a municipality shall be elected directly by the people
of the municipal area. For this purpose, each municipal area shall be divided in
territorial constituencies to be known as wards.
The state legislature may provide the manner of election of the chairperson
of a municipality. It may also provide for the representation of the following
persons in a municipality.
I. Persons having special knowledge or experience in municipal
administration withoutthe right to vote in the meetings of municipality.
II. The members of the LokSabha and the state legislative Assembly
representing constituencies which comprise wholly or partly the
municipal area.
III. The members of the RajyaSabha and the state legislative council
registered as electors with the municipal area.
IV. The chairpersons of committees (other than wards committees).
4.2.3. Ward Committees
There shall be constituted a wards committee, consisting of one or more
wards, within the territorial area of a municipality having population of three
lakhs or more.
The state legislature may make provision with respect to the composition
and the territorial area of a wards committee and the manner in which the seats in
a wards committee shall be filled. It may also make any provision for the
constitution of committees in addition to the wards committees.
4.2.4. Reservation of Seats
The Act provides for the reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and
the scheduled tribes in every municipality in proportion of their population to the
total population in the municipal area.Further, it provides for the reservation of
not less than one-third of the total number of seats for women (including the
number of seats reserved for women belonging to the SCs and the STs).The state
legislature may provide for the manner of reservation of offices of chairpersons
in the municipalities for the SCs, the STs and the women.
It may also make any provision for the reservation of seats in any
municipality or offices of chairpersons in municipalities in favour of backward
classes.

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4.2.5. Duration of Municipalities
The Act provides for a five-year term of office for every municipality.
However, it can be dissolved before the completion of its term.
Further, the fresh election to constitute a municipality shall be completed
(i) before the expiry of its duration, of five years; or (ii) in case of dissolution,
before the expiry of a periodof six months from the date of its dissolution.
4.3. Disqualification
A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as or for being a member
of a municipality if he is so disqualified
(i) under any law for the time being in force for the purposes of elections
to the legislature of the state concerned; or (ii) under any law made by the state
legislature.
However, no person shall be disqualified on the ground that he is less than
25 years of age if he has attained the age of 21 years. Further, all questions of
disqualifications shall be referred to such authority as the state legislature
determines.
4.4. State Election Commission
The superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral
rolls and the conduct of all elections of the municipalities shall be vested in the
State Election Commission.
4.4.1. Powers and functions
The state legislature may endow the municipalities with such powers and
authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-
government.
Such a scheme may contain provisions for the devolution of powers and
responsibilitiesupon municipalities at the appropriate level with respect to (i) the
preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; (ii) the
implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice as may
be entrusted to them including those in relation to the18 matters listed in the
Twelfth Schedule.
4.5. Finance
The state legislature may (i) authorize a municipality to levy, collect and
appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees; (ii) assign to a municipality taxes, duties,
tolls and fees levied and collected by state government; (iii) provide for making
grants-in-aid to the municipalities from the Consolidated Found of the state; and
(iv) provide for constitution of funds for crediting all moneys of the
municipalities.
4.5.1. Finance Commission
The Finance commission (which is constituted for the Panchayats) shall
also, for every five years, review the financial position of municipalities and make
recommendation to the Governor as to:
(i) The principles which should govern:
(a) The distribution between the state and the municipalities, the net
proceeds of thetaxes, duties, tolls and fee levied by the state.
(b) The determination of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees which may be
assigned to themunicipalities.
(c) The grants-in-aid to municipalities from the Consolidated Fund of the state.
(ii) The measures needed to improve the financial position of the municipalities.
(iii) Any other matter referred to the Finance Commission by the

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Governor in theinterests of sound finance of municipalities.
The Governor shall place the recommendations of the Commission along
with the action taken report before the state legislature.
The Central Finance Commission shall also suggest the measures needed
to augment the Consolidated Fund of a state to supplement the resources of the
municipalities in the state (on the basis of the recommendations made by the
Finance Commission of the state).
4.6. Audit of Accounts
The state legislature may make provisions with respect to the maintenance
of accounts by municipalities and the auditing of such accounts.
4.7. Application of Union Territories
The President of India may direct that the provisions of this Act shall
apply to anyunion territory subject to such exceptions and modifications as he
may specify.

Area kept out

The Act does not apply to the scheduled areas and tribal areas referred in
Article 244 of the Indian Constitution. It shall also not affect the functions and
powers of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council of the West Bengal.
4.8. District Planning Committee
Every state shall constitute at the district level, a District Planning
Committee to consolidate the plans prepared by Panchayats and municipalities in
the district, and to prepare adraft development plan for the district as a whole. The
state legislature may make provision with respect to the following points.
(i) The composition of such committees;
(ii) The manner of election of members of such committees;
(iii) The functions of such committees in relation to district planning; and
(iv) The manner of the election of the chairpersons of such committees.
The Act lies down that four-fifths of the members of a District Planning
Committee should be elected by the elected members of the district panchayat
and municipalities in the district from amongst themselves.
The representation of these members in the committee should be in
proportion to the ratio between the rural and urban populations in the district.
The chairpersons of such committees shall forward the development plan
to the state government.
4.9. Metropolitan Committee
Every metropolitan area shall have a Metropolitan Planning Committee to
prepare a draft development plan. Metropolitan area means an area having a
population of 10 lakhs or more, comprised in one or more districts and consisting
of two or more municipalities or Panchayats or other contiguous areas. The state
legislature may make provisions with respect to:
(i) The composition of such committees;
(ii) The manner of election of members to such committees;
(iii) The representation in such committees of the Central
Government, stategovernment and other organisations;
(iv) The functions of such committees in relation to planning and
coordination for themetropolitan area;
(v) The manner of election of chair persons of such committees.
The Act lies down that two-thirds of the members of a Metropolitan

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Planning Committee should be elected by the elected members of the
municipalities and chairpersons of the panchayats in the metropolitan area from
amongst themselves.
The representation of these members in the committee should be in
proportion to the ratio between the population of the municipalities and the
panchayats in that metropolitan area.
The chairpersons of such committees shall forward the development plan
to the stategovernment.
4.10. Nature of Existing laws
All the state laws relating to municipalities shall continue to be in force
until the expiryof one year from the commencement of this Act.
In other words, the states have to adopt the new system of municipalities
based on this Act within the maximum period of one year from 1st June 1993,
which is the date of commencement of this Act.
However, all municipalities existing immediately before the
commencement of this Act shall continue till the expiry of their term, unless
dissolved by the state legislature sooner.
There are eight types of urban local governments currently existing in India:
1. Municipal Corporations.
2. Municipality.
3. Notified area committee.
4. Town area committee.
5. Cantonment board.
6. Township.
7. Port trust.
8. Special purpose agency.
4.11. Rural administration - Local Self Government Institutions
The Article 40 among the Directive Principles of State Policy says that:
“The state shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them
with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function
as units of self- government.”
Later, the conceptualisation of the system of local self-government in
India took place through the formation and effort of four important committees
from the year 1957 to 1986. It will be helpful if we take a look at the committee
and the important recommendations put forward by them.
4.11.1. Balwant Raj Mehta Committee (1957)
Originally appointed by the Government of India to examine the working
of two of its earlier programs, the committee submitted its report in November
1957, in which the term ‘democratic decentralization’ first appears.
The important recommendations are:
Establishment of a three-tier Panchayati Raj system – gram
panchayat at village level (direct election), panchayatSamiti at the
block level and ZilaParishad at the district level (indirect election).
District Collector to be the chairman of ZilaParishad.
Transfer of resources and power to these bodies to be ensured.
The existent National Development Council accepted the
recommendations. However, it did not insist on a single, definite pattern to be
followed in the establishment of these institutions. Rather, it allowed the states to
devise their own patterns, while the broad fundamentals were to be the same
throughout the country.
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 Rajasthan (1959) adopted the system first, followed by Andhra Pradesh in
the same year. Some states even went ahead to create four-tier systems and
Nyayapanchayats, which served as judicial bodies.
4.11.2. Ashok Mehta Committee (1977-1978)
The committee was constituted by the Janata government of the time to study
Panchayati Raj institutions. Out of a total of 132 recommendations made by it,
the most important ones are:
Three-tier system to be replaced by a two-tier system.
Political parties should participate at all levels in the elections.
Compulsory powers of taxation to be given to these institutions.
ZilaParishad to be made responsible for planning at the state level.
A minister for Panchayati Raj to be appointed by the state council of ministers.
Constitutional recognition to be given to Panchayati Raj institutions.
Unfortunately, the Janata government collapsed before action could be taken on
theserecommendations.
4.11.3. GVK Rao Committee (1985)
1. Appointed by the Planning Commission, the committee concluded that the
developmental procedures were gradually being taken away from the local
self- government institutions, resulting in a system comparable to ‘grass
without roots’.
ZilaParishad to be given prime importance and all developmental
programs at that level to be handed to it.
Post of DDC (District Development Commissioner) to be created acting
as the chief executive officer of the ZilaParishad.
Regular elections to be held
4.11.4. L.M. Sanghi Committee (1986)
Constituted by the Rajiv Gandhi government on ‘Revitalisation of Panchayati
Raj
institutions for Democracy and Development’, its important recommendations are:
Constitutional recognition for PRI institutions.
NyayaPanchayats to be established for clusters of villages
Though the 64th Constitutional Amendment bill was introduced in the
LokSabha in 1989 itself, RajyaSabha opposed it. It was only during the
Narasimha Rao government’s term that the idea finally became a reality in the
form of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment acts, 1992.
4.12. Panchayati Raj System under 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts 1992
The revitalization of Panchayati Raj manifested through the 73rd
Constitutional Amendment owes its origin to the dynamic leadership of Rajiv
Gandhi. In his address to the 5th Workshop on ‘Responsive Administration’ held
at Coimbatore in June, 1988, he said that “If our district administration is not
sufficiently responsive, the basic reason is that it is not only sufficiently
representative. With the decay of Panchayati Raj Institutions, the administration
has got isolated from the people thus dulling its sensitivity to the needs of the
people”. With events moving at a faster pace, Panchayati Raj emerged as a major
institutional channel of such administration.
4.12.1. Initiatives towards constitutional status to local governance.
As is known, both the amendment bills (64th and 65th) could not sail
through the Parliament because of opposition from the RajyaSabha. Allegedly
and arguably, they put local governance under direct control of the Centre, which
was resented by the states. However, these two bills provided enough opportunity
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for a national debate as to whether the PRIs should be given constitutional status.
The bills also helped the members of the Parliament to go into the details, as and
when opportunity came, through more suitable amendments. By the time the
mid-term LokSabha assembled, the consensus emerged that PRIs be given
Constitutional status and suitable provisions be made so as to enable these
institutions to function as an agent of change and development at the local level.
After coming to power in
1991, the Congress Government gave top priority to the PRIs and brought out the
Constitutional 72nd Amendment Bill, 1991. The Bill was passed by the
Parliament on Dec22, 1992 and is now known as the Constitution 73rd
Amendment Act, 1992.
The institutionalisation of democratic decentralisation in the form of
statutory PRIs thus opened a new chapter in the history in India and gave a new
turn to the evolution of rural local self- government institutions. The term
institutions of self-government have been interpreted in two ways; firstly, the
constitution says that the Panchayats are institutions of self-governance, implying
that they must have autonomy and the power to govern in an exclusive area of
jurisdiction. In its essential element, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment gives
Panchayat this distinct status. Therefore, it is the de facto third tier of governance.
Secondly, it strengthens ‘administrative federalism’. Professor S. Guhan argues
that the provisions of 73rd Amendment strengthen administrative federalism in
order to facilitate and encourage delegation of administrative and financial
powers from the states to the local bodies. Their administrative powers and to
discharge their responsibilities, are entirely derived from legislation that will have
to passed by the states.
4.12.2. Features of 73rd Constitutional Amendment
The Constitution 73rd Amendment Act, 1992 came into effect from 24th April
1993. No one disputes that it is a historic legislation. The basic question arises as
to what was the basic sprit behind this legislation? Was it limited to the passing
of conformity acts and endowing panchayats with some administrative and
financial powers or to make them genuine institutions for participatory self-
government? The emphasis has been so far on the former, which has made
panchayats mere implementing agencies of central and state schemes, passed on
to them, with funds. The basic objective of the democratic decentralization
through reactivation of the Panchayati Raj system was to realize Gandhiji’s
concept of “ Swarajya”
1. Part IX has been inserted immediately after ‘Part VIII’ of the Constitution
and after the ‘Tenth Schedule’ of the Constitution, ‘ Eleventh Schedule ‘ has
been added (Article 243G) which gives the detail list of functions to be
performed by PRIs. Panchayats shall be constituted in every state at the
village, intermediate and district levels, thus bringing about uniformity in
the PR structure. However, the states having a population not exceeding 20
lakh have been given the option of not having any Panchayat at the
intermediate level.
2. While the elections in respect of all the members to Panchayats at the level
will be direct, the election in respect of the post of the Chairman at the
intermediate and district level will be indirect. (In some states direct election
is made; for instance Kerala) The mode ofelection of Chairman to the village
level has been left to the State Government to decide. All members including

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 the chairperson shall have the right to vote.
3. Reservation of seats for SC/STs has been provided in proportion to their
population at each level. Not less than one-third of the total membership has
been reserved for women (in both reserved and general category) and these
seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat.
Similar reservations have been made in respect of the office of the
chairperson also.
4. A uniform term of five years has been provided for the PRIs and in the event
of dissolution or super session, election to constitute the body should be
completed before the expiry of six months from the date of dissolution. It
the remainder period is less than
six months, fresh elections may not be necessary. Panchayat constituted
upon dissolution may continue for the remainder of the period.
5. With a view to ensuring continuity, it has been provided in the Act that all
the Panchayats existing immediately before the commencement of this
Amendment Act will continue till the expiry of their duration unless
dissolved by a resolution to that effect passed by the State Legislatures
concerned or any law relating to the panchayats which before the
amendment came into force, not inconsistent with its provisions shall
continue, unless amended or repealed.
6. There shall be an Election Commission for the conduct of all elections to
the panchayats consisting of a State Election Commissioner to be appointed
by the State Government. It shall also be in charge of superintendence,
direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls.
7. The State Legislature have been given the power to authorise the Panchayats
to levy, collect and appropriate suitable local taxes and also provide for
making grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the consolidated fund of the
concerned state.
8. A State Finance Commission has to be constituted once in every five years
to review the financial position of the Panchayat and to make suitable
recommendations to the Governor as to the principles which should govern
the distribution between the state and the panchayats of revenue, whether
net proceeds of the taxes, duties, tolls, and fees leviable by the state or grants
in aid and recommend measures to strengthen the financial position of the
panchayat bodies and deliberate on any other matter referred to it by the
Governor. The Constitution 73 rd amendment act adds a sub clause (bb) to
Article 280 of the Constitution. According to this sub clause, the Central
Finance Commission, inaddition to other stipulated duties, shall also make
recommendations to the President regarding the measures needed to
augment the then Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources
of the Panchayats in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by
the Finance Commission of the State.
9. The State Legislatures should bring in necessary amendments to their
Panchayat Acts within a maximum period of one year from the
Commencement of this Amendment Act so as to conform to the provision
contained in the Constitution
4.13. Observations on the 73rd Amendment
The 73rd Amendment Act, 1992, has only provided the general guidance
for theeffective and efficient working of panchayat raj institutions (PRIs) in India.

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It has granted the PRIs Constitutional status and some sort of uniformity by
making three-tier system a permanent feature; regularity, by making election an
imperative after the termination of the PRIs after every five years and provision
of the State Election Commission to conduct and supervise the election; and more
financial autonomy with the constitution of the State Finance commission, to
outline its major contributions.
Firstly, the most debated problem till recently was giving constitutional
recognition to the PRIs. It was often observed by the scholars that the founding
fathers of the Constitution gave only lip service to democratic decentralisation by
mentioning it in Article 40 of the Constitution in (Part IV) the Directive Principles
of State Policy. But after the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, the PRIs have
got constitutional legitimacy. Indian federalism has moved a step further in that
up till now there had been two tiers of governance; henceforth,
there would be three acknowledged tiers of governance. However, there is a
strong body of opinion that in order to give an air of finality to the scheme, a
separate list, namely the panchayat list could have been included in the seventh
schedule, which lists subjects for legislation into the Union, the State List and the
Concurrent List.
Secondly, the present amendment does address the issue of uniformity of
structure across the country but leaves certain important matters, such as size of
a panchayat at a level,to the discretion of the state governments.
Thirdly, PRIs by and large, had failed because of irregular elections and
frequent suppression and suspension. The chronic problem was rightly been taken
care of by the recent amendment. However not all states have been dutiful in
complying with the provisions. Court intervention has been necessary, as for
example, in the case of Orissa and Uttar Pradesh to secure compliance
(Chaudhrai, 2003). Courts also had to intervene to ensure compliance with the
reservation clause in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Fourthly, the Gram Sabha is an institution, which provides an opportunity
to participatemeaningfully in governance, to all the people willing and capable of
participating in the development process. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment
makes the establishment of Gram Sabha mandatory. It however, leaves it to the
State Governments to spell out its jurisdictions and powers. Most state legislation
assign to Gram Sabha a ceremonial, tokenistic role, e.g., endorsing proposals,
making recommendations, considering annual accounts, reviewing development
plans, scrutinising completed works. Other functions entrusted to Gram Sabha
include those like promoting harmony and unity in the village, mobilising
voluntary labour and contributions in cash or kind, rendering assistance in
implementation of development schemes, and promoting programmes for adult
education and family welfare (Sharma, 2004). Moreover scepticism has been
expressed regarding direct election for the village panchayat, as arguably it would
make him a ‘first among equals’ relegation other participants to a less significant
position. Besides, the presence of MPs and MLAs in local bodies might
overwhelm local leaders .
Fifthly, yet another problem relating to the functioning of the local bodies
has been the love-hate relationship between the local level bureaucracies and the
elected representatives of PRIs. Due to the lack of defined roles for the two, both
have had a contentious working relationship rather than displaying the required

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harmony. This has been one of the practical and the more important reasons for
the failure of PRIs. The cooperation of the bureaucracy would be vital in working
out the details of devolution of powers and functions, as stipulated by the act, in
each case, for instance. If such cooperation were not forthcoming,
implementation of programmes and policies would run into roadblocks, making
the ideal of local self-governance more a chimera. If the bureaucracy continues
to be unenthusiastic about local self-governance, as it has been in the past, for
rationales of its own, most initiative for empowerment of local self-governance
and the ideal of participatory democracy itself would be lost. Hence the chief but
unrecognised player in the venture is the bureaucracy. Much would depend on the
way it perceives this change and vouches or otherwise for it. It would help to
inquire in to the “rationales” for which local government has been considered
unfit to shoulder theresponsibility for development on the part of the responsible
administrators and redeeming the same. Cooperation and commitment the part
of the bureaucracy would be crucial in bringing
about the desired state of affairs with respect to local governance and
administration. Significantly, devolution is an executive process, which means
that the statutory provisions need detailing in terms of administrative rules and
procedures-procurement rules, reporting structures, compensation schemes,
accounting systems etc. without which the statutory provision is a mere skeletal
framework without much substance to it.
And finally, other problems related to PRIs, during the last three decades
have been the status of Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads, the inadequacy of
finances and lack of involvement of PRIs in rural development planning. The
amendment has tried to take care of all of these problems by bringing them into
the statute book. However, certain problems have persisted. There has been a
general reluctance to concede political space to the underprivileged in panchayats.
As aforesaid, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh reportedly have not been dutiful in
implanting the reservation provision of the act. Hence, could it be claimed with
any degree of confidence that the backward sections would be articulate and
effective or rather, and more realistically, they would get overwhelmed, as is
feared, by the power elite? Would the state bureaucracy, affect a change in stance
and work in cooperation with the local government? Or would a stint with a
panchayat, harm the individual career prospects of bureaucrats? Would
devolution of powers and functions, in fact, take place in practice as it is stipulated
on paper? Would increase in private and foreign stake in urban development skew
the balance against theurban poor in plan priorities? These and others would be
some of the pertinent questions that would need to be continually monitored by
means of empirical research and rectified by policy in this regard, on course.
As per Palanithurai and Raghupathi, democratic decentralisation follows
the new public management principle in that the intent is to improve service
delivery by invoking demand through institutions like the District Planning
Committee and the Gram Sabha and adjusting/modifying supply accordingly.
There is a paradigm shift from macro to micro concerns in planning.
Development paradigm suffered hitherto due to an overemphasis on macro
concerns. Democratic decentralisation would counter this tendency by
encouraging interest articulation on the part of the underprivileged, and the
‘unequally placed’ at the local level. Also, in view of the expansion of the market

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and shrinking of the state sector, democraticdecentralisation is the counterfoil, the
state has attempted by enlarging the arena of ‘choice’ available to the people by
providing for multiple service delivery and self help options as against the
monopoly of the state which had created a climate of corruption and inefficiency.
Inthis way the state has attempted to discharge its constitutional obligations in the
changed dispensation, towards the people of the country, given the
imperatives/constraints of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. By
institutionalising peoples’ participation in administration, the state has created an
alternate service delivery mechanism to the bureaucracy, which is set to further
shrink in the coming days as liberalisation gathers momentum. As per Chaudharai
(2003), the timing of 1991 trade and industrial policy reforms coincides roughly
with the initiative for democratic decentralisation. Trade and industrial policy
reforms were initiated due to the economic crisis owing primarily to fiscal
management;endemic inefficiency, corruption and waste on the part of the State
bureaucracy that had brought things to such a state, that nothing short of a
paradigm shift was called for to redeem the situation; nothing short of a system
overhaul. In 1991, consequently in the wake of a
serious balance of payments crisis, the government initiated a broad package of
economic reforms, which is being followed and furthered even today, irrespective
of the party in power, involving dismantling of the infamous industrial licensing
regime, deregulation of domestic industry, trade liberalisation measures, opening
up of the economy to foreign direct investment and financial sector reforms. Aim
of all these measures put together is to cut on the non- performing state apparatus
and instead, yield functional space to the private and the civil society, typified by
the non- government sector in active cooperation with the state agency, who in
turn would henceforth, function more as facilitators and catalysts, rather than
‘monopolists’. This would give the broad framework of “reinventing
government” for the sake of good governance (Osborne and Gaebler, 1991).
Though the idea of local governance reform was conceptualised sometime later,
consensus emerged soon, as the failure of the Indian developmental state in terms
of human development and poverty alleviation was ubiquitous. “The aim”,
therefore, “was to reconfigure the structure of government”(Chaudhari, 2003).
Though inertia in the old order giving way to the new is expected, reform efforts
would need to be continued to remove roadblocks, whether structural or
attitudinal, as and when, any, is/are encountered. One indication all ready is the
discretionary provisions; the effort obviously hasto been not to irk power centres
at the sub- national level and secure consensus for democratic decentralisation
within the ‘givens’, which give to us the “ environment of constraints” in
Simonian terms.
There are a few glaring limitations in the framework. The 29 subjects
mentioned in the 11th schedule do not give power to legislate to the local bodies,
only to take decisions. The State Finance commissions’ recommendations are not
mandatory in nature. It is completely up to the State Governments to devolve/not
to devolve, functions, functionaries and resources on the local bodies as per the
constitutional scheme. The 29 items are handled by different ministries and are
not in the hands of the Minster of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development.
Coordination and cooperation from these different ministries would be needed to
secure needed devolution, which could be brought about only by the Chief

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Minister. He has to feel committed enough to the cause of Panchayati Raj. Rules
need to be evolved to guide Panchayat Raj administration that should be
compiled in a handbook and circulated in the regional language for the knowledge
of everybody concerned. Devolution of functions need to follow a set process.
Activities need to be mapped, requisite skills identified and developed at the local
level, with the cooperation of the bureaucracy; communications have to flow
uninterrupted from the state officials to the local functionaries. Leaving things to
the sweet willof the State Government would not help matters (Ministry of Rural
Development Occasional paper 5 cited in Palanithurai and Raghupathi’s).
Unfortunately however, indications from various states in this regard, except a
few states, which have zealously followed the ideal of local self-governance, like
West Bengal, Karnataka and Gujarat and Maharashtra, have not been
encouraging.

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