Public Administration in Ancient India c12.38

c12.38

Each Minister managed the affairs of his own department, and all the Ministers collectively formed a sort of Cabinet for purposes of combined action. But it seems that the responsibility of the Ministers was individual and not collective. Chāṇakya draws a distinction between the Cabinet (mantriṇaḥ) and the Council of Ministers (mantri-parishat). The Council thus seems to have been the Cabinet of Ministers enlarged by the addition of members who held no portfolios. Chāṇakya advises the King to consult both these bodies on important occasions. The King had also the power to consult the Ministers individually as well as collectively. To ensure that each Minister should become familiar with all kinds of work, and to prevent any Minister from growing too powerful, an interchange of places in the Ministry was ordered from time to time.