Sir — This refers to the article, “The power and politics of a Private Secretary” (June 21) by Ashok Malik. It aptly concludes that the Prime Minister’s decision to not retain veteran Private Secretaries is welcome. This is especially true for the States, more than at the Central level. In the former case, Private Secretaries, assigned to the Ministers, come from the ‘ministerial cadre’ of stenographers in the State Secretariats. They become the bawarchis and bhistis of the Ministers. They are also empowered by the Minister to sign off official papers on behalf of their bosses.
Interestingly, Government rules make it clear that any direct order of the Minister (relating to transfers etc) has to be first cleared by the administrative department of the Secretariat in accordance with financial, legal, and appointment rules. After processing, however, many of the orders are negated.
A powerful minister in the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet, who still rules the roost, once threatened me to implement his order regarding stopping the transfer of another office. I objected and my views prevailed. The bureaucracy should be bold enough to know the rules and follow them in too. Often Ministers are too inexperienced and depend entirely on their Personal Secretaries. New Ministers need to be trained in secretarial practices.