How is the additional chief secretary different from the principal secretary in state governments in India - pravinnath/upscpreparationguide GitHub Wiki

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Only difference between the two is of pay scale. Additional Chief Secretary recieves pay level 17 (i.e. ₹2,25,000/month) which is equivalent to Chief Secretary of the state while Principal Secretary recieves pay level 15 (i.e. ₹1,82,200-₹2,24,100/month).

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Usually there is a custom (not law or any rule) of appointing Additional Chief Secretary as administrative head of big state departments such as Finance, Home, Urban Development, Forest etc while Principal Secretary as administrative head of relatively smaller state departments. Sometimes even Secretary to state government also acts as administrative head of state departments in absence of Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary.

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Normally all Departments have either of the two officers but if state government post both officers in same department then Additional Chief Secretary takes precedence over Principal Secretary as its administrative head. All state governments in India have Principal Secretaries rank officers but Additional Chief Secretary post is newer one and hence limited to big and few states such as Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat etc.

Even in IPS, before 1970s many states used to have Inspector General of Police as head of state police but now they have been replaced by Director General of Police. Since it created seniority issues between IAS officers posted in state Home Department, in those days as it was headed by Secretary to state government rank officer (Home Secretary) so it was upgraded to Principal Secretary rank was introduced.

Later after few Pay Commissions reports, Principal Secretary rank officer who headed Home and Forest Department realized that since their pay scale was lower than DGP and Principal Chief Conservator of Forest which again creates seniority issue, to overcome this Additional Chief Secretary rank is introduced as now all three will have same pay level and they will take precedence over them because IAS is considered primus inter pares (first among equal) when compared to other civil services.

Usually IAS officers in top 3–4 seniormost batches in state governments are accredited to Additional Chief Secretary rank. Chief Secretary of the state also belongs to one of the batch.