Secretary to the Government of India

C. H. Bhabha with a Secretary and a few Joint Secretaries to the Government of India in 1947.

In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries,[22] who were all members of the Indian Civil Service. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at ₹48,000 (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$150,000 in 2023) annum in the 1930s.[22] As per warrant or precedence of 1905,[23] secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.[23]

N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar had once suggested "[a] secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control."[24]

The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."[24]

The organizational structure of a department of the Government of India.

A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department.[16]

The role of a secretary is as follows:

• To act as the administrative head of the ministry or department. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided.[15]
• To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.[15]
• To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.[15]

The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level.[25] Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.

In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the ministries of the government and hold positions such as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Railway Board and Telecom Commission.

According to the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the Indian Administrative Service.[3]

An Indian diplomatic passport and an official generally issued to Secretaries to the Government of India.

All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a diplomatic passport. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.[26][27][28]

The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent[17] to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the Indian Armed Forces, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.[17]

Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.[36][37][38][39]

Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.[3][7][8][9][10][11]

• Federal Secretary