The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has decided to set a ten-year ceiling beyond which an officer cannot be appointed to the personal staff of Ministers, irrespective of level. Whenever an appointment is made to the personal staff, the cadre authorities must verify if the officer has previously worked in a Minister’s personal staff. If so, their total tenure must not exceed ten years. The tenure as Private Secretary and OSD to the Minister is capped at five years within the overall ten-year limit. When processing appointments for PSs and OSDs, the ten-year and five-year limits must be followed. The term encompasses any time the officer has served as Under Secretary or lower levels in the Minister’s personal staff. No relaxations will be granted. Personal staff appointed in the Prime Minister’s Office are exempt.
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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.