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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

5:42 PM

Union Government and Administration: Attached offices

ATTACHED OFFICES
The manual of office procedure defines these offices as
where the execution of the policy of the Government
requires decentralisation of executive direction and the
establishment of field agencies, a Ministry has under it
subsidiary offices which are called attached and subordinate
offices. Attached offices are responsible for providing
executive direction required in the implementation of the
policies laid down by the ministry to which they are attached.
They also serve as repository of technical information and
advice to the ministry on technical aspects of questions dealt
with by them. The subordinate offices function as field
establishment or the agencies responsible for the detailed
execution of the decisions of Government. They generally
function under the direction of an attached office, or in cases
where the volume of executive direction involved, is not
considerable, directly under the ministry.
Organisation of Attached Offices
The organisation of these offices differs from that of
ministries and departments, usually the head of such an
office is a technical officer called Registrar, Director General
or Chief Engineer, etc. Below him there are a few technical or
nontechnical officers who help him in his duties. The
proportion of technical and non-technical Secretariat Officers
differ from office to office. There is, no common pattern of
organisation of attached offices. The status of heads of these
offices is also not same. Some of them are headed by an
Additional Secretary or Joint Secretary while some others are
headed by a Deputy Secretary or Director.
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headed by a Deputy Secretary or Director.

The staff of these offices come from the General Secretariat
Service upto the rank of Section Officers.
Functions
The attached office have dual function. They provide
technical information for the policy formulation as well an
executive direction for its implementation. They are
considered field organisations because they not only issue
executive directions to the subordinate offices, but are also
responsible for its implementation. They have to coordinate
the activities of the subordinate offices and keep the
Secretariat informed about the various problems faced in the
implementation of the policies. The attached offices, thus,
could be considered as the headquarters of the field
organisation rather than an extension of the Secretariat.
Relationship between the Attached and Subordinate Offices
The Manual of Office Procedure does attempt to demarcate
the spheres of activity of the two categories of offices.
According to it, the attached offices are responsible for
providing executive direction required in the implementation
of the policies laid down by the Ministry to which they are
attached. In other words, such an office plays dual role, that
of directing the subordinate offices below and submitting
proposals to the secretariat
above. On the other hand, a subordinate office is a mere
field agency responsible for the detailed execution of the
decisions of the Government. Such a role is by no means
unimportant. In fact, being at the delivering of goods end,
its role can be very crucial. In actual practice, however, we
find no such clear-cut distinction of functions as between the
two categories of offices. At best such distinction is blurred.
Even the Manual recognises that though the subordinate
offices generally function under the direction of the attached
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offices generally function under the direction of the attached

offices, in some cases they may function directly under the
ministry. This makes confusion worse confounded. As early
as 1945-46, Tottenham exclaimed in exasperation, No one
has ever been able to arrive at a really satisfactory definition
of an Attached Office. The only justification for such a
distinction seems to be to justify lower scales of pay for the
ministerial staff in subordinate than in attached offices.
Tottenham, therefore, recommended the abolition of
distinction between the two categories of offices. The First
Pay Commission, 1950 also found such distinction artificial
and recommended its abolition. It recommended the
regrouping of offices into three categories: (i) policy-making
organization, that is, secretariat proper; (ii) offices of the
executive heads and advisory organizations; and (iii) offices
subordinate to the above two categories. The Second Pay
Commission, 1959 also suggested a functional classification
based upon two criteria, namely, that offices which were
associated with the shaping of policy by furnishing technical
data and advice and by giving executive directions to the field
agencies and which were responsible for implementing the
policies of the government, should be designated as
Attached Offices; while offices mainly responsible for the
execution of government policies and programmes, should
be called Subordinate offices. The Administrative Reforms
Commission examined the problem in the wider context of
secretariat and non-secretariat organizations and their
relationship and made certain recommendations. However,
despite all the above recommendations the older pattern still
continues. But, while the attached offices have been able to
better the conditions of service of their employees and
achieve a higher status almost co-equal to that of the
secretariat, the subordinate offices continue to slog in their
subordinate status.
FIELD ORGANISATIONS
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FIELD ORGANISATIONS
The Secretariat formulates policies and operative directions
to ensure the implementation of policies while
implementation of policies takes place at the field level,
hence, the organisation of the field office is of great
importance. Generally, the field office is organised on a
geographical basis in India and each Ministry of the
Government of India has its field offices covering a local area
within a State. India is a very vast country, therefore, for each
department of the Government of India it is not, possible to
deal directly with all field offices. Hence, most of the
departments have state level or regional level (including
more than one State) offices in an area.

The functions of the Government have become increasingly

complex and multifarious. Therefore, in addition to the
traditional departmental organisations a number of other
forms like company, corporations. etc., have come up to
perform the governmental functions. The expansion of the
business activities of the government has given birth to two
new forms of organisations Government Company and
Statutory Corporations. Likewise, many Registered Societies
have been established to handle research and training
activities.
The number of executive agencies or field agencies of the
Government may be classified into the following categories:
(i) An attached office, for example, Central Public Works
Department, Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and
storage etc.
(ii) A subordinate office, e.g., Sardar Patel National Police
Academy, Hyderabad, Inspector of Explosives, Nagpur, etc.
(iii) Departmental Undertakings, e.g., ordinance factories,
(iv) A Company registered under the Companies Act, e.g.,
Hindustan Steels Ltd.
(v) A Corporation or Board set up under a Special Statute e.g.
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(v) A Corporation or Board set up under a Special Statute e.g.

Damodar Valley Corporation, Tea Board, Coffe Board,
Tobacco Board, etc.
(vi) A Society registered under the Societies Registration Act
e.g., Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
Pattern of Relationship between the Secretariat and the Field
Office

In actual working of the Secretariat and the field offices,

different kind of relationships between the two agencies
have developed in different organisations. Therefore, it
would be pertinent here to discuss these emerging patterns.
The first pattern, is a complete merger between the Ministry
and the attached offices. The examples are the Railway Board
and the Ministry of Railways ; Posts and Telegraphs Board
and the Ministry of Communication. This pattern suits to the
organizations which are dealing with operation and
commercial functions. The problems arising, are of emergent
nature, therefore, merger of policy making and executive
functions leads to efficiency. Second, the senior officer of the
Ministry along with his position in the Ministry. is appointed
as Head of the Attached office. In this way he becomes
responsible for the formulation and implementation of the
policy; with the assistance of common office staff located in
the Ministry. Examples are: The Joint Secretary in the
Department of Labour and Employment who is also the
Director-General of Employment and Training. Similarly, the
Additional Secretary in the Department of Food is also the
Director General of Food.
The merit of the system is that it eliminates the distance
between the Secretariat and the attached office. The demerit
is that it blurs, the distinction between the Secretariat and
the head of the executive department. Therefore, it is not
suitable for general application.
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Third, the Ministry and the executive department have

separate offices but common files and a single file bureau or
records cell. located in the organisation of the executive
department. The attached office submits proposals on its
own files and refers the Ministry along with the papers
complete in all respects. After the proposal is disposed off by
the Ministry, the file is returned to the executive head. The
single file system has been adopted by many ministries and
attached offices. The example is the Ministry of Defence and
the Air-Force Headquarters. The advantages of this system is
that it avoids duplication of files, saves lot of time and
decisions are taken quickly. Fourth, in this pattern, the
Ministry and the executive department both have a common
office, common files and a common file bureau, under the
control of the executive department. The common office
serves the Secretariat and attached office and the clerical
staff puts up papers for both the sets of officers. At the
secretariat level all noting is done by the officers of and
above the rank of under Secretary. Such a system was in
operation in the Directorate-General of Posts and Telegraphs
before the formation of the Posts and Telegraph Board.
This pattern was recommended by the Second Pay
Commission and Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha. The
advantage is that in this system a proposal is examined only
once which results in quick disposal of business and saves lot
of money.
Fifth, in this pattern the Ministry and the executive
department (attach office) have separate offices and
separate files but the head of the attach office is given an exofficio Secretariat status. The example is that of textile
Commissioner who is ex-officio Joint Secretary in the Ministry
of Textiles. The merits of the system are, that the head of the
attached office brought in closer contact with the Ministrys
office. gets more closely involved in policy making and gets
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office. gets more closely involved in policy making and gets

certain powers to take decisions on some matters. The
system saves lot of time and makes field experience available
to the Secretariat in a greater measure to enable it to take
decisions. The demerit of the system is that it violates the
principle of separation of policy making and implementation
on which the Secretariat is based.
Sixth, in this pattern both the Ministry and the executive
department have distinct and separate offices and files of
their own. Consultation between them takes place through
self-contained communications. The pattern is based on the
difference between staff and line. The Ministry is staff and
the attached office is line. The examples are the office of the
Chief Engineer. Central Public Works Department in relation
to the Ministry of Works and Housing. and the DirectorGeneral of All India Radio in relation to the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting.
The merits of the system are claimed as it scrutinizes the
proposals in wider perspective, controls the enthusiastic
specialist by scrutinizing his proposals and provides for the
division of work between the Secretariat and the attached
office. On the other hand the demerits of the scheme are
that it involves duplication of work being processed in two
offices, proposals of the head of the department are
examined by the clerical staff level in the Ministry and the
Secretarys views are hardly detached and objective but full
of political considerations.
The above patterns of organisation represent the attempts at
bridging the gulf between Secretariat and non-Secretariat
organisations through devices such as giving of ex-officio
Secretariat status to the heads of the executive agencies;
introduction of the single file system, placement of executive
agencies, etc. Recently, some other measures were also
taken to remove the deficiencies in the system. Important
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taken to remove the deficiencies in the system. Important

among them are, giving them greater autonomy by liberal
delegation of authority from the Secretariat to them.
Frequent consultation can solve lot of problems, therefore,
proposals should be formulated after consultation with each
other and the most radical suggestion is the abolition of
distinction between the Secretariat and non- Secretariat
organisations. The Study Team of the Administrative Reforms
Commission on the Machinery of the Government of India,
recommended in February 1968, the abolition of distinction
between the two.
The ARC in its report (September 1968), however, opposed to
the general abolition of the distinction between the
Secretariat and its executive agencies, even though the
Commission was emphatically of the opinion that there
should be no duplication of functions between its Secretariat
organisation and the executive agencies of a Ministry or
Department. The Commission analysed the work of
attached and subordinate offices and found that broadly
speaking it could be divided into the following six categories.

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