ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF CHAPTER -2 THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 2.1. The President : The executive power of the Union formally vests in the President and may be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him, in accordance with the Constitution. 2.2. The Council of Ministers: (i) In the exercise of his/her functions, the President is aided and advised by a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister. In actual practice, the executive power of the Union resides in the Council of Ministers. (i) The Council of Ministers consists of three categories of Ministers, namely: a. Cabinet Ministers; b. Ministers of State; and c. Deputy Ministers. {iii) The Cabinet, which consists of Cabinet Ministers, is responsible for shaping the overall policies of the Govemment in discharging its responsibilities. A Minister of State with Independent Charge also attends a Cabinet meeting when subject matter of his/her Department is considered. The Cabinet also functions through its Committees. 2.3. Allocation/Transaction of Government Business: ‘Among the Rules issued by the President for the convenient transaction of the business of the Government, under Artiole 77(3) of the Constitution, are: () The Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 (as amended from time to time); and The Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 (as amended from time to time). The Allocation and Transaction of Business Rules are available on the website of Cabinet Secretariat (www.cabsec.nic.in) () The Government of india (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 allocates the business of the Government among its different departments which are assigned to the charge of the Ministers by the President on the advice of the Prime ter. In relation to the business allotted to a Minister, these rules also permit the association of another Minister or Deputy Minister to perform such functions as may be specifically assigned to him/her.‘The Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961 seeks to define the authority, responsibility and obligations of each department in the matter of disposal of business allotted to it, While providing that the business allotted to a department will be disposed of by, or under the direction of, the Minister-in-charge. These rules also specify : @ cases or classes of cases to be submitted to the President, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet or its Committees for prior approval; and b. the circumstances in which the department primarily concemed with the business under disposal will have to consult other departments ‘concemed and secure their concurrence / comments before taking final decisions, 2.4. Ministry/Department: (A Ministry/Department is responsible for formulation af policies/schemes of the Government in relation to business allocated to it and also for their implementation, monitoring and review. (i) For the efficient disposal of business allotted to it, a Department is divided into ‘Wings, Divisions, Branches and Sections/Units/Gells. (ii) A Department is normally headed by a Secretary to the Government of India who acts as the administrative head of the Department and Principal Adviser ‘of the Minister on all matters of policy and administration within the Department. (iv) The work in a Department is divided into wings with a Special Secretary/ Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary in charge of each Wing (¥) AWing comprises of a number of Divisions each functioning under the charge of an officer of the level of Director/Joint Director/Deputy Secretary or equivalent officer, called Division Head. A Division may have branches, each under the charge of an Under Secretary or equivalent officer, as Branch Officer (vl) A Section or @ Desk is the lowest unit in a Department with a well-defined area of work, It consists of Assistant Section Officer/Senior Secretariat Assistants, as dealing officers and Junior Secretariat Assistants as clerical support. Sections are supervised by a Section Officer or an equivalent officer. There are Departments that have a Unit or Cell which is almost similar to a Section. Initial processing and submission of cases through noting and drafting is primarily done by Dealing Officers af the level of ASO/ SSA or JSA. However, there are instances where cases are to be initiated at higher level. Even in such cases, functionaries in the Section will provide the required Mmassistance. Desk functionaries deal with cases independently with stenographic assistance and submit them to his/her next higher officer in the hierarchy. ji) While the above represents the commonly adopted pattern of organization of a Department, there are certain variations, the most notable among them being the Desk Officer system. In this system, the work of a Department at the lowest level is organized into distinct functional desks each manned by desk functionaries of appropriate ranks e.g. Under Secretary or Section Officer. Each desk functionary handles the cases himselffherself and is provided adequate support staff. (vill) Designated Sections handling work of (O&M)WS activities. a. Based on the recommendations of SIU, Department of Expenditure, the O&M/IWSU setup has been abolished in the Ministries/Departments. While Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances provide some initiatives, incentive, information, advice, ete. the main task of evolving and implementing reform measures will continue to be responsibility of all Ministries/Departments who may entrust the job to their appropriate formation like Administration, Coordination etc. Strengthening of these divisions for handling the O&M work for necessary improvements/simplification/streamiining in administration in the Ministries/Departments concemed will, therefore, be essential. Similar steps will also be taken in the Attached/Subordinate offices and Public Sector Undertakings/Autonomous Bodies. b. For O&M studies, Ministries/Departments will be guided by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. As regards, the work relating to work measurement studies is concemed, the units will be guided by the Staff Inspection Unit of the Department of Expenditure «. An illustrative list of functions to be performed by designated IWSU/O&M Units is given in Appendix -2.1. 25. Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence: Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence comprising Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, Air Headquarters and Defence Staff Headquarters will be associated in the formulation of policies in relation to matters conceming the Defence of India and the Armed Forces of the Union. They would be responsible for providing executive direction required in the implementation of policies laid down by the Ministry of Defence. They shall exercise delegated administrative and financial powers. The role and functions the Services Headquarters ‘now’ designated as Integrated Headquarters in all other aspects remain unchanged,Attached and Subordinate offices: Where the execution of the policies of the government requires decentralization of executive action and/or direction, a Department may have its executive agencies as “Attached' and “Subordinate offices. (ij) Attached offices provide detailed executive directions required in the implementation of the policies, as laid down from time to time by the Ministry/Department to which they are attached. They also serve as a repository of technical information and also advise the department on various aspects of matter dealt by them. Subordinate offices generally function as field establishments or as agencies responsible for the detailed execution of the policies of the government. They function under the direction of an attached office, or where the volume of executive direction involved is not considerable, directly under a Department. In the latter case, they assist the Departments concemed in handling technical matters in their respective fields of specialization 2.7. Constitutional Bodies: Such bodies are constituted under the provisions of the Constitution of India, such as, Comptroller & Auditor General of India, Election Commission of india, Union Public Service Commission, etc 28. Statutory Bodies: Such bodies are established under the statute or an Act of Parliament. They work within the scope, mandate and powers legally provided to them by an Act of the Parliament (e.g. Central Vigilance Commission, ‘Central Information Commission, Central Board of Film Certification, National ‘Commission for Backward Class ete.) 2.9. Autonomous Bodies: Such bodies are established by the Govemment to discharge the activities/functions relating to execution/implementation of policies of the government. They are given autonomy to discharge their functions in accordance with the Memorandum of Associations etc. However, the Government's overall control exists to the extent of its policy framework on the subject. Some of the programmes and activities are funded fully or partly by the Government of india, generally through grants-in-aid. They are registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1861. Example: Gentral Board ‘of Secondary Education, Indian Institute of Public Administration, etc. 2.10.Central Public Sector Enterprises: “Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) is the Company under the administrative control of Central Ministry/Department holding more than 50% of the equity by Central Govt. The subsidiaries of these ‘companies, if registered in India wherein any CPSE has more than 50% equity ate also categorised as CPSEs. It also covers certain statutory corporations like Airport Authority of India, Food Corporation of India and Central M0Warehousing Corporation. The shares of CPSEs are held by the President of India or his nominees and managed by Board of Directors which include official ‘and non-official Directors/other shareholders or by the Holding companies. The departmentally run public enterprise, banking institutions and insurance ‘companies are not covered under the definitions of CPSE.” 2.11. Information and Facilitation Counters (IFCs): The Information and Facilitation Counter will provide the following services to the clients/customers of the organization: @ ii) ) ” information regarding services provided and programmes, schemes etc. supported by the organization and the relevant rules and procedures, brochures, folders etc.; facilitating the customer/olient to obtain the services of the Organization optimally, timely, efficiently and in a transparent manner and providing forms etc. for public usage; information regarding the standards of quality of service, time norms, etc. evolved by the organization with reference to the services/schemes/functioning of the organization; information regarding hierarchical set up of Public Grievance Redress Machinery of the organization; and receiving, acknowledging and forwarding the grievances/application/ request/ form etc. (related to the services provided by the organization) to the concemed authority in the organization and providing information on their status/disposal