New Delhi: Concerned over officers of all
India services like IAS and IPS being out of their cadres for
long, the government has fixed a ceiling of ten years for them
to work in the personnel staff of Union Ministers.
The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has
decided that a total ceiling of ten years be prescribed,
beyond which an officer may not be permitted to be appointed
in the personnel staff of Ministers, irrespective of level.
"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," it said.
However, the personal staff appointed in the Prime
Minister's Office were exempted from the decision.
The issue of officers working in the personnel staff of
Ministers for long periods has been engaging the attention of
the government for quite some time.
The various departments/services recruit officers to man
their respective organisations and the ACC decision came after
government felt that it is not in the interest of the cadre
management of an organisation to let its officers be out of
their cadres for long.
The ACC decided that every time an appointment in the
personal staff is made, the cadre authorities should 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.
As per the decision, 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 must 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, the ACC said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 21, 2010, 17:28