i. Restructuring the delivery systems to function as an effective mechanism to deliver services.
ii. A strong & workable channel for implementation of NAVARATHNALU
iii. Transparency and accountability in delivery of government services to the citizens
iv. Ensure convergence among departments providing services at village level.
Structure & Composition of Village Secretariats
i. The office of Gram Panchayat will be termed as “Village Secretariat”.
ii. Each Village Secretariat will be provided with a Panchayat Secretary who functions as the Secretary/convenor of the Village Secretariat.
iii. The Village secretariat consisting of Panchayat Secretary & functional assistants shall be responsible to aid & assist Gram Panchayat(s) in performing its functions, while preserving the autonomy of Gram Panchayats.
iv. Subject to administrative convenience, Functional Assistants working under a Village Secretariat, may cater to the needs of two or more contiguous Village Secretariats.
v. The Village secretariats shall have such number of functional assistants working under the supervision of the Gram Panchayat, inter alia not limited to the list enumerated in Annexure 2.
vi. Above functions are indicative only and as when required other functions may be added to it.
vii. All the functionaries at the Village Secretariat shall act as an integrated workforce to deliver multiple services.
viii. The functionaries will be assigned any other Government work as and when required, even if it does not pertain to their own department.
Area of operation of functional assistants
i. Population unit of about 2000 persons is taken as the base, for provision of services by one team of functional assistants.
ii. Rural areas (other than Agency areas)
a. If a Gram panchayat (GP) population is more than 2,000 and less than 4000, the entire GP is considered as one unit and one team of functional assistants will be provided.
b. In the case of smaller GPs having less than 2000 population, one team of functional assistants will provide services for one or more Gram panchayats, to cater to the needs of population of about 2000, for administrative convenience.
c. In larger Gram Panchayats, additional teams of functional assistants will be provided in proportion to the population.
d. Wherever additional teams of functional assistants are proposed in larger Gram Panchayats, the area of operation of additional teams as far as possible will be co-terminus with revenue villages, to enable effective provision of services by Revenue and Survey departments.
iii. Hilly & tribal areas
a. In hilly and tribal areas while deploying a team of functional assistants to one or more smaller Village Secretariats, distance and hilly tracts shall be considered and wherever required, population norm of 2000 shall be relaxed, to enable effective delivery of services to tribal population.
iv. The estimate of district wise Village Secretariat deployed with functional assistants arrived based on above norms is placed at Annexure 3.
12. Preparation of Gram Panchayat Development plans and provision of services by Village Secretariat
i. The functional assistants of Village Secretariat shall participate in Gram Panchayat meetings and Gram Sabhas to enable convergence of their functioning at Gram Panchayat level.
ii. Village secretariats shall assist in preparation of Gram Panchayat Development plans for 5 years on the subjects delegated to them from time to time, as per the prescribed procedure.
iii. The functionaries of the village secretariat shall prepare integrated annual plans using the PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) techniques, duly capturing the felt needs & aspirations of the people, as per the prescribed procedure.
iv. Village secretariat shall endeavour to provide services pertaining to the subjects delegated to them from time to time, as per well-defined citizen charter, being accountable to Gram Panchayats.
13. Business, office procedure and record maintenance in Village Secretariats
- i. The Village Secretariat shall function according to prescribed business rules and office procedures. These business rules, office procedures and record maintenance systems will be notified separately. The Functional Assistants of line departments will function as per the job chart provided and report to Gram Panchayat.
- ii. The Panchayat Secretary of the village secretariat acts as DDO (Drawing and disbursing officer) and the pay and allowances of all the staff of Village Secretariat will be disbursed by her/him. The honorarium of Village Volunteers also will be paid by the Panchayat Secretary.
- iii. The Casual leave of all the village functionaries will be sanctioned by the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat.
- iv. The regular Supervisory Officers of the concerned line Departments shall supervise the Functional Assistants in technical aspects.
- v. Earned leave, maintenance of service records and all other service matters of village secretariat staff like promotions and other service matters including disciplinary matters, will be dealt with by the respective line departments under their service rules.
14. Number of functionaries required and process of recruitment
- i. Existing staff of the concerned line department has to be appropriately accommodated to the extent possible.
- ii. The line departments should critically analyse the number of functionaries to be recruited after considering, inter alia, the parameters, such as, potential and requirement of the area, efficient delivery of services, work performed by the existing functionaries, financial prudence, optimum utilization of government work force etc.
- iii. After following the process mentioned in i) & ii) above, the line departments have arrived at no. of functionaries to be recruited which is given in Annexure 2.
- iv. Each line department shall follow their own norms for recruitment and basic minimum qualifications prescribed for a specific post, under their service rules.
- v. For Secretariats having larger population, more number of functional assistants may be deployed by the same Department, if considered necessary, for ensuring efficient and prompt delivery of services.
- vi. The recruitment of secretariat functionaries shall be done in accordance with respective service rules under the supervision of the Committee of Secretaries constituted for this purpose.
- vii. The functionaries recruited initially will be on probation for a period of two years at a consolidated stipend of Rs. 15,000/- per month. There after the concerned Departments will take necessary action as per service rules in force for confirming the probation.
- viii. Where already recruitment process has begun by the APPSC the said process could be utilized, by the concerned department, if considered appropriate.
- ix. A one-time relaxation regarding pre-requirement of framing/amendment service rules before issue of recruitment notifications is given due to urgency, however, the concerned departments should ensure that the necessary amendments to the service rules or framing of new service rules are done immediately.
- x. Committee of Secretaries specifically constituted for this purpose is authorised to finalise various details regarding the recruitment process and procedures, following rules in force.
- PR & RD department, in consultation with concerned departments, is authorised to effect minor modifications regarding number of village secretariats and number of functionaries, if required while implementation
Tentative Time lines:
i. Issue of guidelines for establishment of Secretariats
ii. Issue of Notification for Village Secretariats.
Determining the number of secretariats
Finalizing designations and
number of functionaries
Finalizing Recruitment Criteria &
Designation-wise Eligibility Criteria
Legal Verification of Proposals - 19th July to 22st July 2019
iii. Recruitment of functionaries and issue of appointment letters - 23nd July to 15th Sept 2019
iv. Training of Functionaries – 16th to 28th Sept 2019
v. Setting up of Secretariat Office with Furniture, Equipments, etc. – 20th Sept 2019
vi. Allotment of selected candidates to Village Secretariats – 30th Sept 2019
vii. Commencement of functioning of Village Secretariats – 2nd Oct 2019
