STATE LEGISLATURE

The State has a bi-cameral legislature which consists of two chambers, the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council). The former has 289 (Total number increased from 271 to 289 in 1978) members and the strength of the latter is 78. Of the 289 members of the Vidhan Sabha, 34 are from Greater Bombay. All Members of the Vidhan Sabha except one who is a nominated member are elected members. In Greater Bombay there were six Parliamentary Constituencies, viz., Bombay South, Bombay South-Central, Bombay North, Bombay North-Central, Bombay North-East and Bombay North-West.

The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is elected in the first meeting of the Vidhan Sabha and his term is co-terminus with the Vidhan Sabha. The Chairman of the Legislative Council is elected from amongst the members on the expiry of the term of five years. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the Chairman of the Legislative Council are the guardians and custodians of the rights and privileges of their respective Houses. In the absence of Speaker and Chairman, their duties are performed by the Deputy Speaker and the Deputy Chairman, respectively.

Bombay being the capital of the State, these two Houses are situated in the Fort area close to the Mantralaya. A separate Secretariat has been provided for the Legislature under Article 187 of the Constitution of India. In the Maharashtra State Legislature, there is a combined staff under the joint control of the Speaker and the Chairman. The Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad, which were formerly housed in Council Hall near the Museum since the beginning, were shifted to the newly constructed Vidhan Bhavan in the Back Bay Reclamation in May 1981. The Vidhan Bhavan is a magnificent modern building, a beautiful specimen of architecture. It has imposing halls, and it provides excellent amenities to the legislators.

The Legislature Secretariat consisted, during 1983-84, of two Secretaries, one Joint Secretary, five Deputy Secretaries, one Editor of Debates, one Librarian, two Research Officers, four Private Secretaries, four Assistant Secretaries, 16 Superintendents, and 44 Reporters. The number of non-gazetted staff was 386.

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GOVERNOR

The Governor is the chief executive of the State and is the repository of the executive power of the State. He is required to exercise his functions with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, except in so far as he is by or under the Constitution required to exercise his functions in his discretion. Under the rules of business made by the Governor under Article 166(3) of the Constitution the business of government is allotted among the Ministers, and subject to the provisions of the rules and regulations issued thereunder, the business of government is transacted in the departments of the Mantralaya under the control of Ministers. The Governor is however kept informed of all decisions of the Council of Ministers relating to the administration of the affairs of the State and proposals for legislation. In the event of failure of the constitutional machinery in the State and in case of constitutional deadlocks he may make a report to the President of India to enable the President to take action to ensure that the administration of the State is carried on properly. In such cases, the Governor can advice the President of India to take over the administration of the State, and he administers on behalf of the President with the aid of advisors appointed for the purpose. President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra for the first time in 1980 when the Governor had taken over the administration of the State.

In addition to his constitutional responsibilities the Governor is vested by the statutes governing the constitution of various universities in the State with the office of the Chancellor, and by virtue of holding this office, he exercises certain powers of appointment to offices in these universities and also certain other powers, including power to order inspection and issue directions.

The Secretary to the Governor heads the Governor's personal secretariat which handles the secretariat work pertaining to the Governor's office, including correspondence with Central and State authorities, high officials and private bodies and citizens, and arrangements for tours, visits to institutions etc. The office of the Secretary to the Governor includes one Secretary, one Military Secretary, one Deputy Secretary, one Staff Officer, two Under Secretaries, one Private Secretary, one Additional Private Secretary, two Superintendents and one Accounts Officer. The non-gazetted staff numbered 49 in 1983-84. The household of the Governor is under the Comptroller who is responsible for the maintenance of the Raj Bhavan estates at Bombay, Pune and Nagpur for the reception of State Guests, and for arrangements in connection with parties, entertainments and other functions. The office of Comptroller includes one Comptroller, one Additional Comptroller, two Aid-de-Camps to Governor and one Personal Assistant. During 1983-84 there were 155 non-gazetted persons working in the office of the Comptroller.

The Raj Bhavan formerly called the Government House is situated in the beautiful and exhilarating environs of the Malabar Hill, on the edge overlooking the Arabian sea. There are magnificent halls and luscious gardens and lounges. In British days the present Government House was a summer resort of the Governor, while the Government House was situated at Parel in the premises of the present Hafkine Institute. The Government House was shifted to Raj Bhavan in 1885.

 

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MANTRALAYA

The Mantralaya formerly known as the Secretariat or the Sachivalaya is the highest administrative organisation of the Government of Maharashtra.

There is a Council of Ministers formulated from time to time under the Constitution of India. The Chief Minister is the head of the entire State Government machinery. He executes his mammoth functions with the help of Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers, their number depending on the choice of the Chief Minister.

The business of government is transacted in the departments of the Mantralaya under the control of the Ministers concerned. This applies only to those aspects of Government business which require the attention of the central executive of the State, since the business is transacted in the numerous other large and small directorates throughout the State. The main functions carried out by the Mantralaya consist among other things of the formation of policy in matters within the consti­tutional responsibility of the State Government; the framing of new legislations or amendments of existing ones; framing of rules, regulations, orders in exercise of powers conferred by law; issue of instructions, directions and advice to subordinate authorities regarding the action which they are to take; exercise of supervision, direction and control over the executive administration; collection of information required for answering questions in Legislature and in general needed for justifying the policies and actions of Government before Legislature; financial and budgetary control over the activities of subordinate authorities, dealing with Government of India and its offices operating within the territory of the State, with other all-India authorities and with other State Governments; and disposal of appeals, representations and complaints from members of public.

Upto 1758 the. Secretariat of the Bombay Presidency Government occupied certain rooms in the Bombay Castle. In 1874 it was transferred to the Old Secretariat building (Information about the building is given in Chapters 2 and 19.) where it continued to function upto 1955 when it was finally shifted to the present building. The main building of the Mantralaya was constructed in 1955 at a cost of Rs. 63,80,219, while the cost of annexe building was Rs. 1,23,79,234. It was completed in 1960.  The nomenclature of the Secretariat commonly referred to as the Sachivalaya was changed in January 1976 to Mantralaya.

Under the Rules of Business, the working of the Mantralaya is carried out through various departments. These are:—General Administration; Home; Revenue and Forests; Agriculture and Co-operation; Education and Employment; Urban Development; Public Health; Finance; Public Works; Housing and Special Assistance; Irrigation; Law and Judiciary; Industries, Energy and Labour; Rural Development; Food and Civil Supplies; Planning; Social Welfare, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Tourism; Legislative Affairs; Medical Education and Drugs; Horticulture and Social Forestry; and Tribal Development. The entire business of Government is distributed among these departments but some of these departments do not constitute self-contained ministries. They are merely branches of an organisation which is essentially unitary in structure.

Though each department is under the control of a Secretary to the Government, the Chief Secretary, who is also Secretary to the General Administration Department and ex officio Secretary to the Cabinet, has overall authority. Important cases from various departments are sub­mitted to the Chief Secretary by the department concerned before taking orders of the Government. He is also the head of the State Service, and all service matters arising in various departments are decided in consulta­tion with him. The Chief Secretary further acts as a co-ordinating authority by presiding at meetings of Secretaries and by deciding inter­departmental differences. He also acts as the Development Commissioner for the State. The Additional Chief Secretary is next in hierarchy to the Chief Secretary, and is vested with important policy matters and administrative functions which are not dealt with by the Chief Secretary.

The Mantralaya is concerned mainly with the broader aspects of administration. The responsibility for execution of the policies is entrusted to the heads of departments and their subordinate field staff including technical experts. Each department of Mantralaya is under the control of a Secretary (Some departments have two or three Secretaries, while a   few are headed by a Special Secretary.) to Government who is immediately responsible to the Minister. There may, in addition, be an Additional Secretary or a Joint Secretary. Every department has a few Deputy Secretaries of the rank of Collector. Below the Deputy Secretaries are Under Secretaries, who are assisted by Assistant Secretaries and Superintendents. In 1950 the former Secretariat had 109 gazetted officers and a non-gazetted staff of 1,717. This strength increased to 303 officers and 3,111 non-gazetted persons in 1968. In 1978 the Secretariat had 16 departments with a staff strength of 945 gazetted officers and 4,343 non-gazetted persons.

The departmentwise staff strength of Mantralaya as in February 1984 is shown below:-

	Department	Special Secretary / Secretaries	Joint secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and Officers of equivalent rank	Under Secretaries and Class I Officers	Class II Officers	Class III Employees	Class IV Employees
1.	Agriculture    and Co­operation.	3	13	25	54	366	73
2.	Education and Employ­ment.	1	6	17	45	224	40
3.	Finance	4	11	22	83	348	85
4.	Food and Civil Supplies	1	4	8	19	141	26
5.	General Administration	3	11	32	56	397	86
6.	Home	3	12	11	49	312	N.A.
7.	Horticulture and Social Forestry.	1	3	3	7	31	11
8.	Housing   and     Special Assistance.	2	4	8	20	118	26
9.	Industries, Energy   and Labour.	3	6	11	28	168	N.A.
10.	Irrigation	2	19	25	71	352	N.A.
11.	Law and Judiciary	2	22	21	26	185	N.A.
12.	Legislative Affairs	1	1	1	5	19	4
13.	Medical Education and Drugs.	1	5	7	12	92	20
14.	Planning	2	6	11	52	110	43
15.	Public Works	2	7	12	55	275	80
16.	Public Health	1	6	16	10	120	22
17.	Revenue and Forests	4	9	20	72	349	65
18.	Rural Development    ..	2	8	21	64	275	49
19.	Social Welfare, Cultural Affairs,Sports     and Tourism.	1	4	8	22	100	18
20.	Tribal Development	1	2	5	11	50	11
21.	Urban Development	1	6	7	25	112	25
		41	165	291	686	4,144	684

The old branch system in Mantralaya departments was replaced by the Desk Officer system in 1975 under which each section is put under a Desk Officer.

 

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DIVISIONAL COMMISSIONER

The State of Maharashtra is divided for the purpose of administration and revenue into six territorial divisions including the Konkan division. The jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Konkan division extends over five districts including Greater Bombay. The Commissioner exercises general control over the administration in all matters. He is invested with wide powers and functions embodied in different acts, codes, manuals, government circulars, etc. He gives co-ordination visits to the offices with particular reference to planning and development.

The office of the Divisional Commissioner formerly housed in the Old Secretariat building has been shifted to Vashi, New Bombay.

 

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COLLECTOR

The first appointment of the Collector of Bombay appears to have been made about the year 1715. He was then called " the Collector of the Honourable Company's Rents and Revenues " and was responsible for the collection of salt and excise revenue. His designation under the Regulation Act, 1827 was changed to " Collector of Bombay ". In 1828 the Land Revenue and Sea Customs departments were consolidated with separate establishments and the officer was styled as " Collector of Customs and Land Revenue, Bombay ".

The Collector of Bombay who is also the Collector of the Bombay Suburban District is directly under the Revenue Department of the Mantralaya, but he, like other Collectors of districts, also works under the general control of the Divisional Commissioner.

Greater Bombay occupies a peculiar position in the administration of the State. The city constitutes for purposes of revenue administration a separate collectorate which is not included in the Konkan division. The suburban area which was amalgamated with the city for the purpose of judicial, police and municipal administration constitutes a district called the Bombay Suburban District which is included in the Konkan division. The two collectorates are held by the same officer who is under the Divisional Commissioner only in the capacity of Collector, Bombay Suburban District.

The existence of two collectorates in Greater Bombay is the result of historical circumstances. The city as a presidency town had in the matter of judicial, police and revenue administration a bet-up which was radically different from that in other parts of the State. In matters of revenue administration in particular, the city was not governed by the provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1876, but by a separate statute applicable only to the city. When the suburban area was unified with the city, it continued to be governed under the provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1876 and therefore for purposes of revenue administration a separate coUectorate had to be retained.

The powers of the Collector of Bombay are somewhat different from those of other Collectors in as much as he does not exercise powers of a District Magistrate under the Code of Criminal Procedure or the Bom­bay Police Act, 1951, as these powers have been vested in the Commis­sioner of Police and in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. In several respects the Collector is responsible for the administration of statutes which operate in Bombay city only. In several matters the Collector functions as a single authority with jurisdiction over Greater Bombay. Such matters include administration of the Bombay Entertainment Duty Act, 1923; the Bombay Betting Tax Act, 1925; the Bombay Lotteries, Prize Competitions Control and Tax Act, 1948; the Requisition and Acquisition of Immovable Properties Act, 1952; the Land Acquisition Act, 1948; and the collection of dues from various departments of Government including sales tax and income tax.

The Collector is assisted by a Resident Deputy Collector for the city and an Additional Collector in the grade of Deputy Collector for Bombay Suburban District. The Resident Deputy Collector in addition to super­vising various sections of the Bombay City coUectorate functions as a controller of hotels and lodging houses in Greater Bombay and also as registration officer for preparation of electoral rolls for elections to Parliament and State Legislature. The Additional Collector assists the Collector in administration of the Bombay Land Re\enue Code and the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act which is applicable to a few villages in the district. As a result of rapid industrialisation of the suburban area and the rapid growth of population resulting from this industrialisation, there is a good deal of land acquisition work in the suburban area. Special officers have been appointed to deal with the acquisition cases for the State Government, the Central Government, the Bombay Housing and Area Development Board, the Municipal Corporation, the Railways as well as industrial concerns and public bodies.

For the city of Bombay there is a special officer designated as the Superintendent, Bombay City Survey and Land Records with staff of surveyors, draftsmen, etc. having responsibility of maintaining land records and survey of lands. The collection of entertainment duty in Greater Bombay is the responsibility of a supervisor. The rest of work pertaining to the Bombay city coUectorate is performed under the control of the Resident Deputy Collector in 12 sections or branches. The Additional Collector for income tax recovery is assisted by a head clerk and a special Mamalatdar.The Deputy Collector for sales tax recovery is assisted by three Mamalatdars. The establishment of the Bombay Suburban District Collectorate which is separate from that of the Bombay city coUectorate includes field staff for three talukas into which the district is divided viz., those of Andheri, Borivali and Kurla. Each of these talukas has been placed in charge of a Mamaltdar.(There are a few more Mamlatdars for other functions.)

The Collector of Bombay is the Chairman of the Bombay City Sainik Board, and the District Anti-Corruption Committee for Greater Bombay which devises and takes concerted measures to eradicate corruption from the administration. The Collector is also an ex officio chairman of the board of management of the properties of the Indian Institute of Science, the Bombay Christian Burial Board and the Regional Employment Advisory Committee. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Prince of Wales Museum, the prohibition committee, the regional telephone advisory committee, the development plan committee, the Beggar's Act advisory committee and the committee of management of the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind.

 

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ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF COLLEGE

(The college has now been reorganised and expanded to meet the growing needs of a development-oriented administrative machinery. It is named as the Maharashtra Institute of Development Administration (MIDA) and shifted to Pune in May 1984.)

With the assumption of welfare and development activities leading to rapid social and economic change, public administration became more and more complex. It is now realised that for good administra­tion experience alone is not enough, but a systematic training in the art and science of administration is also necessary. The administration is becoming an expert profession and professional training in admini­stration has become absolutely essential. With this realisation, the Administrative Staff College was established.

The college situated in the Fort was started in 1963 in pursuance of a recommendation made by the Administrative Reorganisation Commit­tee to the effect that a new agency may be set up for imparting training in administrative matters to Government servants holding posts involv­ing administrative responsibilities and for supervising, developing and co-ordinating training activities of the various Government departments. During the period 1963-1974, as many as 95 programmes were arranged and 2,316 officers were trained, thus giving an average of 8 programmes with 193 officers per year. The cost of training per day per officer was Rs. 56. During 1982-83, 65 programmes were arranged and 2,364 officers were trained.

The college has made arrangement since 1974-75 for imparting training in Marathi for probationers whose mother-tongue is not Marathi. Earlier this work was entrusted to the Deccan College at Pune.

 

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APPENDIX I

MAHARASHTRA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

The Maharashtra Public Service Commission constitutes an important organ in General Administration of the State as it performs the function of recruitment of personnel in public services. It is established under the Constitution of India since 1950. A Public Service Commission was first established by the Bombay Government in April 1937, with functions similar to those at present entrusted to that body.

Until July 1947 the Commission served the needs of the Province of Sind in addition to those of the Province of Bombay. On 1st August 1947 a separate Public Service Commission was established for Sind, and the Bombay Sind Public Service Commission was reconstituted, on that date into the Bombay Public Service Commission. On the coming into operation of the Constitution of India on 26th January 1950 this body was continued as the Bombay Public Service Commission for the State. After bifurcation of the bilingual State on May 1, 1960, it was renamed as the Maharashtra Public Service Commission.

Besides recruitment and other allied functions for the State Govern­ment, the Commission is also entrusted with the functions of recruitment to the posts under the Bombay Municipal Corporation carrying a pay of Rs. 1,200 or more and also the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking carrying a pay of Rs. 750 or more.

The Commission consists of a Chairman and four other members appointed by the Governor. The Secretary heads the office of the Com­mission assisted by one Deputy Secretary and Controller of Examinations, two Deputy Secretaries, eight Under Secretaries and some other officers. The non-gazetted staff in 1982-83 numbered 157.

The work done by the Commission in 1977-78 and 1983-84 is shown below:—

TABLE NO 1
RECRUITMENT BY SELECTION (BY INTERVIEW)

Sector	Year	Posts to be filled	Posts advertised	Applications received	No. of candidates interviewed	No. of candidates recommended
State Government	1977-78	1,943	1,237	7,070	2,925	979
	1983-84	1,353	246	5,106	818	213
Bombay Municipal Corporation.	1977-78	162	36	94	51	19
	1983-84	46	20	176	69	15
Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking.	1977-78	3	1	3	2	1
	1983-84	2	2	25	10	2

 

TABLE No. 2
RECRUITMENT BY COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS, 1982-83

	Category	No of vacancies	No.of candidates applied	Candidates appeared	Candidates qualified in written examination	Candidates interviewed	Candidates qualified in final result	Candidates recommended
1	Gazetted Posts Non-technical (Preliminary)	209	21,702	15,323	3,846	..	..	..
2	Range Forest officers	90	2,094	1,564	99	96	96	65
3	Asstt. Conservator of Forests	38	2,375	2,012	164	145	38	38
4	Assistants/ Sales tax Inspectors	100	8,095	5,610	647	665	403	100
5	Examination for Clerks / Clerk- Typists/Typists	800	51,696	41,069	1,681	..	..	800

TABLE No. 3

PROMOTIONS, APPOINTMENTS BY TRANSFER AND REEMPLOYMENT, 1977-78 AND 1982-83

		Referred		Advised		Backlog
Sector	Year	No.of appointments	No.of officers	No.of appointments	No.of officers	No.of appointments	No.of officers
State Government	1977-78	1,057	1,231	681	765	376	466
	1982-83	2,828	3,455	727	847	2,101	2,608
Bombay Municipal Corporation.	1977-78	259	304	169	188	90	116
	1982-83	327	439	292	324	35	115
Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking.	1977-78	16	27	10	14	6	13
	1982-83	128	271	123	266	5	5

 

 

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APPENDIX II

 

MAHARASHTRA REVENUE TRIBUNAL

It is a quasi-judicial body constituted from 1st April 1937. The Bombay Revenue Tribunal Act was enacted in 1939 which was later on replaced by the Bombay Revenue Tribunal Act, 1957, and the same has been incorporated in the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code of 1966 with suitable changes.

The Tribunal has headquarters in Bombay and has regional benches at Bombay, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Kolhapur. Appeals and revision applications filed before different regional benches are heard by this Tribunal.

The President of the Tribunal is of the rank of a High Court Judge. The Tribunal at present consists of 12 non-official members. The Bombay regional Bench has 3 non-official members. The work done by the Tribunal during 1983-84 is shown below:—

REVISION APPLICATION / APPEALS UNDER VARIOUS ACTS

	Tenancy Act	Celing Act	Restoration of Lands to S.T Act 1974	Other cases	Total
1.Opening balance as on 1st April 1983	361	29	85	61	536
2. Instituted during the year	159	9	35	7	210
3.Disposal during the year	124	4	29	60	217
4.Pending at the year end	396	34	91	8	529

 

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APPENDIX III

 

DIRECTORATE OF LANGUAGES

To achieve the objective of introduction of Marathi as the official language of the State, the Directorate of Languages was established in 1960. It has been entrusted with the following functions:—

(1) to develop administrative, legal and technical terminology in Marathi; (2) to translate manuals and forms into Marathi; (3) to translate ordinances, rules, laws into Marathi; (4) to translate all budget publications, reports of various committees into Marathi, (5) to conduct language examinations for attainment of proficiency in Marathi and Hindi for Government Servants not knowing those languages; and (6) to conduct Marathi typewriting and Shorthand examinations.

The Directorate is working upon a scheme of translating Central Acts into Marathi. So far 82 Acts have been published under this scheme. The Directorate has brought out many dictionaries called Paribhasha Kosha, 17 manuals and also 14 glossaries of scientific and technical terms.

The Director is the head of the organisation and he is assisted by one Joint Director, four Deputy Directors, four Divisional Assistant Direc­tors, six Assistant Directors, ten Language Officers and a non-gazetted staff of 127 (1983-84).

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APPENDIX IV

STATE BOARD FOR LITERATURE AND CULTURE

For the purpose of encouraging research in Marathi literature, culture and other fields, the State Government established this Board in 1960. However, from December 1980, it was bifurcated into two bodies, viz., State Board for Literature and Culture and the Maharashtra State Board for Production of Marathi Vishvakosha.

The functions of the Board are to initiate, assist or undertake research schemes in the field of languages, culture and history of Maharashtra; publication of scholarly Marathi literature by scholars and translation of important books into Marathi. In addition, the Government has from 1978-79 entrusted to the Board a scheme for giving incentives to promising authors in Marathi and accordingly the Board has helped 589 such authors. So far 320 books have been published under this scheme. The Board also gives grant-in-aid to reputed institutions for publication of magazines.

The statistics of activities of the Board during 1982-83 are given below:—

	Books on Science	Transla­tion of classics	Publication of Historical records	Books on Fine Arts
(1) No. of authors who approached Board  with   publications    or those   who have been given written assignment.	10	32	5	6
(2) No. of publications rejected	3	17	..	..
(3) No. of publications accepted	7	15	5	6
(4) No. of publications brought out	4	10	2	5
(5) Total pages	1,530	3,200	780	930
(6) Production cost (Rs.)   ..	60,022	1,60,000	39,069	45,000
(7) Remuneration-
a) No. of authors	4 ..	10	4	5
(b) Amount paid (Rs.)	17,784	32,000	11,349	4,660

 

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APPENDIX V

MAHARASHTRA STATE BOARD FOR PRODUCTION OF MARATHI VISHVAKOSHA

This Board came into existence in December 1980 when the former State Board for Literature and Culture was bifurcated into two wings viz., the Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture and the Maharashtra State Board for Production of Marathi Vishvakosha.

The main activity of the Board is the compilation of the Vishvakosha on the lines of the Encyclopaedia of Britanica in 20 Volumes of about 1000 pages each. The editorial work of Vishvakosha is carried on at the Vishvakosha unit, at Wai (Satara District) under the supervision of a Chairman helped by editorial staff.

The Board published 8 volumes upto 1982-83.

APPENDIX VI

The following statement gives the number of State Government employees in Greater Bombay:—

Particulars	No. as on 1st July 1981
Class I and II	4,833
Class III	56,577
Class IV	18,169
Others	8,666
Total	88,245

 

 

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