The machinery of government: Rules of Business, cabinet committees, PMO, Cabinet Secretariat and the permanent executive

Detail

1. Article 77: the legal base for running the government

• Article 77 sets out how the Government of India does its business [4]:
• Art. 77(1): all executive action (work done by the government, as opposed to law-making or court work) is taken in the name of the President [4].
• Art. 77(2): orders made in the President's name must be signed and certified in the way the rules lay down. A court cannot reject such an order just because the President did not personally make it [4].
• Art. 77(3): the President makes rules so that government business runs more smoothly, and divides that business among ministers [4].

• Art. 77(4): this clause was added by the 42nd Amendment (1976). It barred courts from asking whether the rules had been followed. The 44th Amendment (1978) removed it [4].

• The President's name is a formal one. Real decisions are taken by ministers, because the President acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers (Art. 74).

2. Rules of Business (1961)

• Rules of Business are the rules made under Art. 77(3). They decide who in the government does what, and how decisions are taken. There are two sets [5]:

Rules	What they do
Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961	Divide subjects among ministries and departments. They list which ministry handles which subject.
Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961	Set out the powers, duties and responsibilities of each ministry, the Cabinet, its committees and the PM [5]. They also decide which cases must go to the Cabinet.

• Rule 12 (Transaction of Business Rules): the PM may depart from the normal rules in cases of urgency. The Cabinet then gives ex post facto approval (approval after the action has already been taken).
• Maharashtra, 23 November 2019: President's rule (the Centre runs a state directly when its government cannot function under the Constitution) was revoked early in the morning without a Cabinet meeting. A new government was sworn in the same morning.

• Jammu and Kashmir, 2019: some orders under the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019 were first approved under Rule 12. The Cabinet approved them ex post facto later [6].

• Why it matters: Rule 12 lets the government act fast. Critics say it lets the PM go around the collective responsibility of the Cabinet (all ministers share responsibility for every decision).

3. Cabinet committees

• Cabinet committees are extra-constitutional bodies, meaning the Constitution does not mention them.
• The PM sets them up under the Transaction of Business Rules.
• They are either standing (permanent) or ad hoc (set up for one task and then wound up).
• Their job is to settle issues and lighten the Cabinet's load.
• Most are chaired by the PM.

• Their decisions carry the Cabinet's authority, though the full Cabinet can review them.

• The eight cabinet committees listed in the 2019 reconstitution [3] (reconstituted again in 2024):

Committee	Members / Chair	Main work
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC)	PM and Home Minister (2019: PM and Amit Shah) [3]	Approves senior appointments: Secretaries to the Government of India, service chiefs and heads of central police forces
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)	PM, plus the ministers of Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs (2019: Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar) [3]	Defence, national security and major security appointments
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)	Chaired by PM	Economic trends, MSP (minimum support price, the price at which the government promises to buy farm produce) and large investments
Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA)	Chaired by PM	Centre-state issues and politically sensitive matters. Often called the "super cabinet"
Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs	—	Government business in Parliament
Cabinet Committee on Accommodation	—	Allotment of government housing and offices
Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth	Chaired by PM	Speeding up large investments
Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development	Chaired by PM	Jobs and skills policy

• June 2014 changes: on 10 June 2014 the PM ended four standing cabinet committees [2]:
• Management of Natural Calamities
• Prices
• World Trade Organisation Matters
• Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) related issues
• Their work was moved to the remaining committees. The ACC, CCEA, Parliamentary Affairs, CCPA and CCS were reconstituted [2].

4. Groups of Ministers (GoM) and Empowered GoMs

• Group of Ministers (GoM): an ad hoc group of ministers. It studies one issue and reports to the Cabinet.
• Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM): a GoM given power to decide the issue itself, on the Cabinet's behalf.
• GoMs and EGoMs grew in number under the UPA governments (2004–14). Critics said they slowed decisions and weakened ministerial accountability.
• Most GoMs and EGoMs were wound up in June 2014. The aim was to return decisions to ministries and the Cabinet.
• The tool was not ended for good. In 2020, the government set up an EGoM headed by the Defence Minister to oversee the corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board [7].

5. Cabinet Secretariat

• The Cabinet Secretariat works directly under the PM. It is headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
• The Cabinet Secretary is the senior-most civil servant. The post was created in 1950.

• The Cabinet Secretary chairs the Committee of Secretaries, where top officials settle issues between ministries before they reach ministers.

• Functions:

• Serves the Cabinet and its committees: prepares agendas, keeps records and issues decisions.
• Coordinates among ministries and settles disputes between them.
• Monitors whether Cabinet decisions are carried out.
• Looks after the Rules of Business.

6. Prime Minister's Office (PMO)

• The PMO was set up in 1947 as the Prime Minister's Secretariat. It was renamed the PMO in 1977.
• It is headed by the Principal Secretary to the PM.
• Functions: advises the PM, coordinates across ministries and handles the PM's dealings with Parliament, states and the public.
• Critique:
• Decision-making centred on the PMO can sideline cabinet collegiality (ministers deciding together as equals).
• Ministers may become implementers of PMO decisions.
• This links to the kitchen cabinet, an informal inner circle of trusted advisers around the PM (Section 9).

Point	Cabinet Secretariat	PMO
Serves	The Cabinet as a whole (collective)	The PM personally
Head	Cabinet Secretary	Principal Secretary
Origin	Post of Cabinet Secretary created 1950	1947, as PM's Secretariat; PMO from 1977
Key role	Coordination and Cabinet procedure	Policy advice and political coordination

7. The permanent executive: civil servants as the link

• Political executive: elected leaders such as the PM and ministers. They change with elections.
• Permanent executive: career civil servants who stay in office whichever party wins. They work under the direction of ministers (Class 8).
• Functions (Class 7):
• implement laws and schemes;
• connect citizens with the government through field offices;
• keep records;
• run large operations: the census, elections, disaster relief, MGNREGS and the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

• The hierarchy runs from secretaries at the top down to grassroots staff such as teachers and anganwadi workers.

• Features (Class 11):

• Politically neutral: they serve whichever government is in power.
• Merit-based: they are recruited by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) and the state public service commissions.

• Representative: reservation for SC, ST, OBC and EWS candidates, and steps for women, make the services reflect society.

• All India Services (IAS, IPS): these officers serve in the states, but only the Centre can discipline them. These services are created under Art. 312.

• Problems:
• insensitivity to ordinary citizens;
• political interference in postings and transfers;
• weak accountability.

• Remedies: the RTI Act, 2005 (citizens can ask for government information) is a partial fix. Grievance portals such as CPGRAMS let citizens file complaints online.

• C.B. Muthamma:

• She was the first woman in the IFS (Indian Foreign Service), joining in 1949.
• In C.B. Muthamma v. Union of India (1979), Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer struck down service rules that treated women officers unfairly, such as rules on marriage.
• The case affirmed equality in public employment (Arts. 14 and 16).

Prelims Hooks

• The Rules of Business are made by the President under Art. 77(3), not by Parliament or the PM.
• Art. 77(4) was added by the 42nd Amendment (1976) and removed by the 44th Amendment (1978).
• Rule 12 of the Transaction of Business Rules 1961 lets the PM depart from the rules in urgent cases, followed by ex post facto Cabinet approval. Example: Maharashtra President's rule revoked on 23 November 2019.
• Cabinet committees are extra-constitutional. The Constitution does not mention them; they come from the Rules of Business.
• ACC has only two members: the PM and the Home Minister.
• The CCS includes the ministers of Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs, along with the PM.
• The CCPA is called the "super cabinet".
• June 2014: the committees on Prices, Natural Calamities, WTO Matters and UIDAI were ended [2].
• Trap: the head of the PMO is the Principal Secretary. The head of the Cabinet Secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary, who is the senior-most civil servant and chairs the Committee of Secretaries.
• Trap: the PMO started as the PM's Secretariat in 1947. The name "PMO" dates only from 1977.

Mains Points

• Collective vs centralised executive:
• Rule 12, a powerful PMO and small committees such as the CCPA and ACC allow fast, decisive action.
• But they can weaken collective responsibility under Art. 75(3) and leave the full Cabinet to approve decisions after they are taken.

• The 2019 Maharashtra revocation is a useful example.

• GoMs: efficiency vs accountability:

• GoMs and EGoMs helped settle disputes between ministries.
• Too many of them in the UPA years delayed decisions and blurred who was responsible.

• Reform since 2014 has used fewer standing committees and selective EGoMs, such as on the Ordnance Factory Board in 2020 [7].

• Neutral civil service vs political control:

• Ministers must direct policy, but transfers and political interference erode neutrality.

• Reform ideas include fixed tenure, civil services boards, stronger RTI and CPGRAMS, and representative recruitment.

• Coordination role: the Cabinet Secretariat and the Committee of Secretaries are the "glue" of a large government with many ministries. Their strength decides how well policies are carried out across ministries.