The Indian government has issued several office memorandums regarding the appointment of officers to the personal staff of ministers. The government intends to address the long-term presence of officers in ministerial roles, limiting appointments to 10 years, with only 5 years as Private Secretary/OSD. These directives clarify the process for appointing Private Secretaries and OSDs, highlighting requirements such as Cabinet Minister approval, officer willingness, cadre clearance, and vigilance clearance. They extend to retired or private individuals and emphasize that appointments are prospective, not retrospective.
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NO. 31/9/2014-EO (MM.I)
Government of India
Department of Personnel \& Training (Office of the Establishment Officer)
North Block, New Delhi
Dated: $21 / 25 / 2 \times 14$
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject:- Providing interim assistance to Minister.
The undersigned is directed to state that on the formation of the new Government there would be an immediate requirement to provide assistance of a Private Secretary to the new Minister. Since the process of appointing Private Secretaries to Ministers takes some time, it would be in order to provide the services of an officer within the Department till such time as the officer chosen by the Minister as Private Secretary is put in place. Therefore, as an interim measure it may be advisable to identify an officer working at DS/Director level in the Ministry/Department who could be deputed to work with the new Minister until a regular Private Secretary of the Minister’s choice is appointed.
2. It may be kept in mind that such an arrangement would only be an interim measure for a short period of a month or so. It may be ensured that such officer has sufficient tenure for this purpose. Such an officer would continue to work as Deputy Secretary/Director and will not be eligible for redesignation as PS unless the Minister wants him as a regular PS and a formal proposal in that regard is sent to this Department for approval of the competent authority. Details of the officer, if so assigned for the above, may be communicated to this office for information.
3. It may be noted that for appointment of a regular Private Secretary/OSD to the Minister, a formal proposal with the information and documents as detailed in the Annexure may be forwarded to this Department for approval of the competent authority. Extant instructions on the subject are enclosed for ready reference.
Sappanath
(Jagangath Srinivasan)
Deputy Secretary(MM)
Secretaries all Ministries/Departments
(By name)
Annexure
Fresh PS Appointment
(i) Proposal with Cabinet Minister’s/MoS (I/C) approval
(ii) Willingness of the officer
(iii) Cadre clearance/vigilance clearance
(iv) Details regarding previous working in the Ministers’ staff including as PS/OSD specifying with designation and period-wise of earlier working in the Ministers’ staff
(v) ACR dossier in r/o Non-IAS officers.
Lateral shift as PS/OSD
(i) Proposal with Cabinet Minister’s/MoS (I/C) approval
(ii) Willingness of the officer
(iii) Vigilance clearance from the Ministry/Department where working earlier
(iv) Post creation details with the approval of DoP\&T(CS Division)/MoF (D/o Expenditure) in case of appointment as OSD
Fresh Appointment as OSD:
(i) Proposal along with the Cabinet Minister’s/MoS (I/C)’s approval
(ii) Willingness of the officer
(iii) Cadre clearance/vigilance clearance
(iv) Bio-data/service profile of the officer specifying designation and period-wise details of earlier working in the Ministers’ staff
(v) Post creation details with the approval of DoP\&T (CS Division)and MoF (D/o Expenditure)
(vi) ACR dossier in r/o Non-IAS officers.
OSDs in case of Private persons:
As in column (i) to (ii)
(i) Educational qualification certificate (attested copies (by not below US)
(ii) Bio-data/earlier service details duly attested by the Minister concerned
(iii) Post creation details with the approval of CS Division/D/o Expenditure
(iv) IB report
(v) Police report on verification of character and antecedents in the format prescribed.
MOST IMMEDIATE
No.31/65/2009-EO (MM-I)
Government of India
Department of Personnel \& Training
(Office of the Establishment Officer)
New Delhi, dated 04.03.2010.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Policy on fixing an upper limit of the number of years for which officers can work in the personal staff of the Union Minister in their entire careers.
The issue of officers working in the personal staff of Ministers for long periods of time has been engaging the attention of the Government for quite some time. The various Departments/Services recruit officers to man their respective organizations and it is not in the interest of the cadre management of an organization to let its officers be out of their cadres for prolonged periods of time.
2. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has decided that
(i) A total ceiling of ten years be prescribed beyond which an officer may not be permitted to be appointed in the personal staff of Ministers, irrespective of level.
(ii) Every time an appointment in the personal staff is made, the cadre authorities may check whether the officer has worked in the personal staff of a Minister earlier and if so, his total tenure be restricted to not more than ten years in his entire career. Further, his tenure as Private Secretary and OSD to the Minister should be limited to five years within this overall limit, on the personal staff of the Minister.
(iii) The ceiling of ten years and the sub limit of five years for PS/OSD with the ceiling of ten years, in the personal staff would be adhered to while processing the cases for appointments of PSs and OSDs. The tenure provided in all such cases would be inclusive of any stint that the officer may have worked in, earlier at Under Secretary or lower levels also in the personal staff of any Minister.
(iv) No relaxation will be granted to the above conditions.
(v) The Personal staff appointed in the Prime Minister’s Office may be exempted from the above provisions.
To,
All Secretaries to the Government of India.
Copy forwarded for information \& necessary action:-
- DOP\&T(Shri Mahender Kumar, Deputy Secretary)CS-II Division, Lok Nayak Bhawan, New Delhi.
- Prime Minister’s Office (Smt. V.Vidyavathi, Director).
- Cabinet Secretariat (Smt. Nivedita Shukla Verma, Director)
- PS to MOS (PP)/Sr.PPS to Secretary (P)
- PS to E/O/Dir.(MM)/RO(CM)/Guard File.
- Director, NIC for placing on the Department website.
NOTE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Policy on fixing an upper limit on the number of years for which officers can work in the personal staff of Ministers in their entire careers.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has laid out a policy for fixing an upper limit on the number of years for which officers/officials can work in the personal staff of Ministers. This was conveyed by DOP\&T’s O.M.No. 31/65/2009-EO (MM-I) dated 04.03.2010.
2. Ministries have raised certain queries regarding the applicability of these instructions. They are:
(i) Whether these instructions are applicable only to serving officers or also to those from the open market, retired and officers of PSU/Autonomous bodies etc.
(ii) Whether these instructions will apply from retrospective or prospective effect and whether they are applicable to new cases of appointments only or to officials working at present in the personal staff of Ministers too.
3. In clarification, the ACC has approved that:
(i) The 10 years limit would be applicable to all appointments in the personal staff of Ministers even for retired or private persons.
(ii) The ACC directions would be applicable with prospective effect and not with retrospective effect as these instructions are clearly for processing ‘future’ appointments. It would not be practical to open cases of all appointments with Ministers at all levels and recalculate their tenure or cancel their appointments as the case may be. These instructions would be effective from the date of issue of the O.M mentioned in para 1 above. No future appointments will be made which are not in accordance with these instructions.
To,
All Secretaries to the Government of India.
Copy forwarded for information \& necessary action:-
- DOP\&T(Shri Rajeev Kapoor, Joint Secretary (AT\&A) North Block, New Delhi.
- Prime Minister’s Office (Smt. V. Vidyavathi, Director).
- Cabinet Secretariat (Smt. Nivedita Shukla Verma, Director)
- PS to MOS (PP)/Sr.PPS to Secretary (P)
- PS to EO/Dir.(MM)/RO(CM)/Guard File.
- Director, NIC for placing on the Department website.
F.No.31/15/2011-EO(MM-I)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension
Department of Personnel \& Training
New Delhi, dated ${ }^{[\lambda 4}$ June, 2013.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Amendment in the policy relating to reversion of officers belonging to All India Service as well as Central Services on pre-mature cessation of their tenure as Private Secretary/Officer-on-Special Duty to Ministers.
A review of the policy on the above subject has been under consideration of the Government for some time. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has now approved certain amendments to the existing policy as mentioned below:-
(i) Officers of all the three All India Services (including IPS) as well as Central Services who are appointed as PS/OSD without completing their “cooling off” should be reverted to their cadre once their term as PS/OSD ends for whatever reason. While appointing such officers as PS/OSD an informed consent should be obtained from them that they are willing to be appointed as PS/OSD in waiver of the “cooling off” requirement, fully aware of the condition that they would be reverted back to their cadre once their term as PS/OSD ends for whatever reason and that they would be further required to complete the “cooling off” afresh;
(ii) Officers of all the three All India Services as well as Central Services who are appointed as PS/OSD from the “Offer List” may be allowed to complete their normal period of central deputation if their term as PS/OSD ends for whatever reason before the completion of such term.
(iii) Officers of all the three All India Services as well as Central Services who are not on the Offer List but are appointed as PS/OSD after completing their “cooling off requirement” should also normally be allowed to complete their full term of Central deputation, subject to their willingness and suitability, in case their term as PS/OSD ends for whatever reason before the completion of such term.
(iv) The revised policy would have a prospective effect and cover all those who are appointed as PS/OSD after the date of revision of the policy. Those who are already working as PS/OSD in the Central Government at present as well as those who have already been appointed to posts under the CSS and non-CSS following cessation of their appointment as PS/OSD shall continue to be governed by the pre-revised policy till the completion of their present tenure.
- All the Ministries/Departments of Government of India, Cadre Controlling Authorities of all participating units under the Central Staffing Scheme and the State Governments are requested to take note of the above revised instructions for information and compliance.
| (Dr. Amarpreet Duggal) | |
| Deputy Secretary to the Govt of India |
To:
- Secretaries of All Ministries/Departments of the Govt of India (As per standard list)
- Cadre Controlling Authorities of all participating Units under the Central Staffing Scheme
- All Chief Secretaries of the State Governments (As per standard list)
No. 31/15/2011-EO (MM-I)
New Delhi, dated 15th June, 2013.
Copy to:
- Prime Minister’s Office (Shri Dheeraj Gupta, Joint Secretary to PM), New Delhi
- Cabinet Secretariat (Ms. Nivedita Shukla Verma, Joint Secretary), New Delhi.
- PS to MOS(PP)/ PPS to Secretary (P)/ PS to EO/ PS to DS(MM)
- NIC – for upleading the OM on the official website of DoP\&T
- Spare copies-10/ Guard file.
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|---|---|
| (Dr. Amarpreet Duggal) | |
| Deputy Secretary to the Govt of India |