INTRODUCTION

Prime Minister plays a vital role in any parliamentary system

of government. 1The Prime Minister is the ‘first among the equals’, ‘the moon among the stars’
and the ‘sun around which the system revolves’. After independence India adopted a
parliamentary system of government. This was the impact of the long term of British rule in
India. The constitution of India does not discuss much about the position and power of Prime
Minister nor about his duties in detail. In order to perform his role efficiently and effectively, the
PM should have an office of his own for information, advice and necessary support. At the time
of India`s independence there was not any tradition of a Prime Minister`s Office even in
England. During the period of world war, Lloyd George felt the need of such an office and he
started it as his own personal secretariat known as ‘Garden Subrub’.
The existence of the Prime Minister’s Office can be seen much
before the independence of the country. The Prime Minister’s Office earlier known as Prime
Minister’s Secretariat. Before independence Governor General with the help of his secretary
performed the function as executive head of the government. In order to continue with the same
assistance provided to the governor general, the first prime minister of India felt the need of
having a secretarial support in the functioning of the government. The major objective of this
office was to provide secretarial assistance to the Governor General which was handled by the
secretary. The same office was set up as a personal secretariat of the Prime Minister known as
Prime Minister’s Secretariat. It was created for providing an extra support to the Prime Minister
so that he can give more time in dealing with important matters. In march 1964, Prime Minister
Lal Bahadur Shastri established administrative reforms commission under the chairmanship of
Moraji Desai. It is also known as Deshmukh study team. The team discussed to provide enough
support to the Indian Prime Minister.
Prime Minister’s Office is an extra constitutional mechanism
which finds no mention in the Indian constitution. It was given the status of department under
Government of India, Allocation of business rules, 1961. It consists of multiple levels of support
staff reporting to the prime minister. In 1977, Moraji Desai came to power as the Prime Minister
of India. He brought change in the name of Prime Minister’s Secretariat to Prime Minister’s
Office and also reduced the size of the office. This office has survived and has existed since
independence and continue to remain the most important center of power.2 It is considered as
well-established institution and every Prime Minister depend upon it.

Organizational Structure of PMO

1
Rajani Ranjan Jha,” Prime Minister’s Office: The Fulcrum of Indian Administration”, Indian journal of Public
Administration (2019)
2
Karuna Singh,” Prime Minister’s Office: A critical analysis”, The Indian Journal of Political Science (2007)
Every office has a structural set up. Prime Minister’s Office also has an organizational structure.
Principal secretary is the administrative head of the office and The Prime Minister consider as
political head of the office. No special qualification is needed for the principal secretary, it is
depending upon the trust of the Prime Minister. The post of principal secretary has been
occupied by senior civil servants of India. He is the chief of all the staff and stands at the top of
the Prime Minister’s Office. The size and hierarchy of the office is flexible and it may vary with
the change of political leadership. Under the Principal secretary there is an additional principal
secretary. Below the additional principal secretary there are additional secretaries, joint
secretaries, officers on special duty, several directors and many functionaries belonging to class
I, II, III and IV services. After that, Prime Minister appoints technocrats, media advisor, subject
specialist in his office. Prime Minister may appoint a trusted political colleague as his political
advisor. Bhubanesh Chaturvedi was appointed as the Political advisor by Prime minister PV
Narashimha Rao.3 At the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pramod Mahajan was appointed as the
political advisor. He was the first political advisor with the status of a cabinet rank minister.

Functions of PMO
Prime Minister’s Office considered as a staff agency. The main objective of the PMO is to assist
the Prime Minister in the discharge of his role, function and his responsibility. The functions are:
fixing the appointment of the Prime Minister within India and outside which includes the party
meeting; Prepare the draft speech and important declaration of the Prime Minister; maintaining
relation with the press and public; to handle Prime Minister’s Facebook and tweeter accounts and
other postings on social media; Preparing answers to the questions which cannot be answered by
a particular ministry in parliament; arrange the travel plan of Prime Minister; to deal with all the
matters that have come to the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister’s Office acting as the think-tank to Prime Minister. It provides
administrative assistance to the Prime Minister and maintains important records, files which may
help Prime Minister in arriving at a decision. It includes the anti-corruption unit and dealing with
the public grievances. It monitors actions on different projects and activities going on within the
country and outside. Prime Minister’s Office acts as a coordinator among Prime Minister,

3
Rajani Ranjan Jha,” Prime Minister’s Office: The Fulcrum of Indian Administration”, Indian journal of Public
Administration (2019)