The post of joint secretary in the Government of India was created in the 1920s. The salary of a member in this rank and post was fixed at Rs. 36,000 per annum in the 1930s. The salaries of Joint Secretary in Government of India during the
British Raj was same to the
Chief Secretary of
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh,
Punjab and
Burma. As per Warrant of Precedence of 1905, joint secretaries in the Government of India were listed together with
secretaries to the Government of India and ranked above of
chief secretaries of provincial governments. During the majority of the British period, particularly between 1920 and 1940, the position of Joint Secretary to the Government of India functioned as the second-highest rank within central departments, subordinate only to
Secretary to the Government of India. By the mid-1940s, the designation of
Additional Secretary was introduced in select departments, but was not yet universal. In 1937, the
Central Secretariat contained only seven joint secretaries, who were members of the
Imperial Civil Service and other services. However, by 1946, the number had increased to twenty-five. Before
Partition of India, in 1946,
Iskander Mirza was elevated as Joint Secretary at the
Ministry of Defence in New Delhi, In 1920,
George Gall Sim served as Joint Secretary in the
Finance Department to assist with major financial administrative reforms. In 1936,
Tennant Sloan served as Joint Secretary in
Home Department. In 1919,
Henry Smith served as Joint Secretary in the
Legislative Department.
Hawthorne Lewis was appointed as Joint Secretary in the Reforms Office. According to
A. D. Gorwala,
ICS, "The joint secretaries ought to in reality be what the name implies, namely secretaries for the subject entrusted to them and joined to a more senior secretary for the convenience of administrative work."
Prime Minister's Office During the tenure of
Jawaharlal Nehru as the
prime minister, the then
Prime Minister's Secretariat was headed by a joint secretary. Currently, in
Prime Minister's Office (India), the
private secretary(ies) to
Prime Minister of India is always in the rank and post of Joint Secretary to Government of India. ==Tenure and Appointment==