The Principal Secretary in India denotes a government official of high seniority and is commonly found in the State governments in India. Principal Secretaries are the administrative heads of the all the departments of a state government such as Home, Finance, Revenue and Commerce etc.
Usually, in the Indian state governments a Principal Secretary ranks above a secretary but below the rank of Chief Secretary. While each state has only a single Chief Secretary, some senior officials may hold the rank of Chief Secretary and are designated as Additional Chief Secretaries or Special Chief Secretaries. Principal Secretaries are commonly drawn from the Indian Administrative Service and usually hold (but not always) the "above supertime scale" payscale.
In north eastern states and also some other states like Karnataka, usually Secretary in State Government i.e. equivalent to Joint Secretary to Government of India is appointed as and holds the post of Principal Secretary in State Government.
Famous quotes containing the words principal and/or secretary:
“For me, the principal fact of life is the free mind. For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity. A perpetually new and lively world, but a dangerous one, full of tragedy and injustice. A world in everlasting conflict between the new idea and the old allegiances, new arts and new inventions against the old establishment.”
—Joyce Cary (1888–1957)
“... the wife of an executive would be a better wife had she been a secretary first. As a secretary, you learn to adjust to the boss’s moods. Many marriages would be happier if the wife would do that.”
—Anne Bogan, U.S. executive secretary. As quoted in Working, book 1, by Studs Terkel (1973)