The State Secretariat, as the top layer of the state administration, is primarily meant to assist the state government in policy making and in discharging its legislative functions. It also acts as a memory and a clearing house, preparatory to certain types of decisions and as a general supervisor of executive action . The main functions of the State Secretariat are broadly as follows:
- Assisting the ministers in policy making, in modifying policies from time to time and in discharging their legislative responsibilities
- Framing draft legislation, and rules and regulations
- Coordinating policies and programmes, supervising and controlling their execution, and reviewing of the results
- iv) Budgeting and control of expenditure
- Maintaining contact with the Government of India and other state governments;
- Overseeing the smooth and efficient running of administrative machinery and initiating measures to develop greater personnel and organisational competence.
The ministry and secretary constitute the secretariat, whereas the office of the executive head is termed as Directorate.