Central Secretariat Service

The Central Secretariat Service is the ministerial cadre of the Government of India that staffs the sections, branches and divisions of the ministries and departments at Delhi, constituted in its present form on 1 October 1962 and governed today by the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009, notified as G.S.R. 140(E) dated 27 February 2009 under the proviso to article 309 of the Constitution. Its cadre controlling authority is the Department of Personnel and Training.

The service has five grades. An Assistant Section Officer enters at Level 7 of the pay matrix with a basic pay of Rs. 44,900 and can rise through Section Officer at Level 8, Under Secretary at Level 11, Deputy Secretary at Level 12 and Director at Level 13. Rule 3 classifies the top three grades as Central Civil Service Group A Ministerial and the two lower ones as Group B Ministerial, so the service straddles the Group A and Group B line inside a single seniority list.

The Second Schedule to the 2009 Rules distributed 9,744 posts across 38 cadre units, of which 4,904 were Assistant Section Officer posts and 3,000 Section Officer posts. A Note inserted by G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016 makes that strength expressly variable, and the service has been restructured three times since 2003 with a fourth committee at work since 27 October 2022.

This article covers how the service was constituted and what repealed what, the grade and pay structure, the sanctioned strength and the cadre unit system, how each grade is filled under rules 11 and 12, the non-functional scale in rule 17 and the level it does not settle, the Rotational Transfer Policy of 8 May 2026, the route to Joint Secretary, and how the service relates to the two sister secretariat cadres. Figures for in-hand salary, allowances and income tax sit on the individual grade articles.

Constitution of the service and the rules that repealed each other

The Central Secretariat Service was constituted in its present form with effect from 1 October 1962, by rule 1(2) of the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 1962. Those rules were made under the proviso to article 309 and gave the service four grades: the Selection Grade and Grade I, both Central Civil Service Group A Ministerial, and the Section Officers’ Grade and Assistants’ Grade, both Group B Ministerial.

The service has older roots. The Department of Personnel and Training traces it to the Imperial Secretariat Service of 1919, through the Tottenham Committee of March 1946 and the Central Secretariat Service (Reorganization and Reinforcement) Scheme, 1949, which set four grades headed by an Under Secretary on Rs. 800-50-1150. Grade II (Superintendent) and Grade III (Assistant Superintendent) were merged into Section Officer Grade II from 1 July 1959 on the Second Pay Commission’s recommendation, and that merged grade is the Section Officers’ Grade the 1962 Rules carried forward.

The 1962 Rules were amended at least ten times, by notifications running from G.S.R. No. 409 dated 26 March 1977 to G.S.R. No. 64(E) dated 1 February 2008, and were then replaced outright. Rule 24 of the 2009 Rules repeals them in terms:

The Central Secretariat Service Rules, 1962 and regulations framed there under, as amended from time to time, in force before the commencement of these rules are hereby repealed subject to any notification, rule, regulation, order or notice issued, or any appointment or declaration made, or exemption granted or any penalty or fine imposed or any other thing done or any other action taken under the previous rules or regulations and in force immediately before such commencement shall so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of these rules, be deemed to have been issued, made, granted, done or taken under the corresponding provisions of these rules.

The 2009 notification is F. No. 5/24/2004-CS.I, published in the Gazette of India Part II Section 3 Sub-section (i) as No. 122 of Friday, 27 February 2009. It has been amended three times: G.S.R. 759(E) dated 15 September 2010, G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016, and G.S.R. 721(E) dated 22 September 2022. The 2016 amendment is the substantive one, and most of what a reader needs to know about recruitment sits in the clauses it substituted, not in the rule as originally printed.

The five grades and the pay ladder

Rule 3 of the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009 provides for five grades in two groups, and rule 3(2) makes all but the lowest gazetted.

Levels and entry pay are the pay matrix cells fixed by the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016. Dearness allowance on each is 60% of basic pay with effect from 1 January 2026, sanctioned by Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum F. No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026.

Two features of the table are worth reading carefully. The Group A line falls between Section Officer and Under Secretary, so the promotion from Level 8 to Level 11 is also the promotion out of Group B, and it skips Levels 9 and 10 entirely. And the gazetted line falls one grade lower, between Assistant Section Officer and Section Officer, which is why the ad-hoc bonus payable to non-gazetted Group B employees stops at the Assistant Section Officer grade.

The designations changed in 2016. Clause 2(A) of G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016 substituted “Assistant Section Officers’ Grade” for “Assistants’ Grade” wherever it occurred in the rules, carrying into the statutory text the nomenclature that Department of Personnel and Training order F. No. 21/12/2010-CS.I(P) dated 21 December 2015 had already introduced administratively.

Sanctioned strength, and why the 2009 figures are a baseline

The Second Schedule to the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009 distributes 3,000 Section Officer posts and 4,904 Assistant Section Officer posts across 38 cadre units, within a total service strength of 9,744 that also carries 1,400 Grade I posts, 330 Selection Grade posts and 110 Senior Selection Grade posts.

The largest cadre units in the Second Schedule are the Ministry of Home Affairs with 269 Section Officer and 444 Assistant posts, the Ministry of Finance with 255 and 456, and the Ministry of Defence with 221 and 336. The Union Public Service Commission, at serial 38 of the Schedule, carries 141 and 285.

Those are notified 2009 figures and not the strength today. Clause 2(B) of G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016 inserted a Note after rule 5(1) reading that the authorised strength of the service is subject to variation to be indicated by the Government from time to time, and clause 2(C) inserted an equivalent Note after rule 6 for the cadre unit wise distribution. Since 2 August 2016 the Schedule is therefore expressly not the last word, and the varying instrument is a government order rather than an amendment to the rules. No such order fixing a revised grade-wise strength is available in text on the Department of Personnel and Training circular registers, and the CS Division’s own strength page is stale on its face, still quoting the October 2003 structure in Fifth Pay Commission scales.

Cadre control, cadre units and the Common Seniority List

Rule 2(g) makes the Department of Personnel and Training, in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the cadre controlling authority for officers appointed to any grade of the service. Rule 2(f) defines a cadre unit as a participating Ministry or Department specified in the First and Second Schedules.

A cadre unit is an establishment, not a seniority cadre. That is the single largest change the 2009 Rules made. Under rule 5 of the 1962 Rules a separate cadre was constituted for the Section Officers’ Grade and the Assistants’ Grade for each Ministry, with officers borne on a separate gradation list for that cadre, and only the Selection Grade and Grade I sat on a combined list. Rule 4 of the 2009 Rules replaced that arrangement:

There shall be a single combined gradation list called Common Seniority List for each grade of the Service specified in rule 3.

Sub-rule (2) of the same rule requires that list to be prepared for each grade as on 1 January of every year. From 27 February 2009 every grade, including the two Group B grades, sits on one all-India Common Seniority List. Seniority in the service is therefore a single number, and empanelment orders identify an officer by Common Seniority List number, not by ministry.

The number of cadre units has grown since 2009. Rule 20 makes the Department of Personnel and Training competent to amend, modify and create additional cadre units in the First Schedule, and rule 19 makes it the competent authority for inter-cadre transfers. The encadrement orders are routine: Office Memorandum No. 25/2/2011-CS-I(P) dated 11 April 2018 bifurcated the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion cadre unit to carve out Heavy Industry and Food Processing Industries, Office Memorandum No. 24/06/2021-CS.I(P) dated 6 September 2021 encadred the National Medical Commission, Office Memorandum No. 21/10/2020-CS.I dated 28 October 2021 the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, and Office Memorandum No. 24/08/2021-CS.I(P) dated 3 January 2022 the Commission for Air Quality Management. The sectoral annexure to the Rotational Transfer Policy of 8 May 2026 accordingly lists many more entries than the 38 serials of the 2009 Schedule, because it enumerates departments individually where the Schedule grouped several under one Ministry.

Entry to the service: the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade

Rule 12(2)(a) of the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009, as substituted by clause 2(E)(II)(i) of G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016, fills the grade in three shares:

• 75% by direct recruitment of graduates possessing computer proficiency, on the results of a competitive examination held once a year by the Staff Selection Commission, which is the Combined Graduate Level Examination.
• 15% from the Select List, drawn from regular officers of the Senior Secretariat Assistants’ Grade of the Central Secretariat Clerical Service who have rendered not less than 10 years of approved service in that grade.
• 10% from the Select List, drawn from persons selected through a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for Senior Secretariat Assistants of the Central Secretariat Clerical Service, conducted by the Staff Selection Commission once a year.

The 10-year residency on the seniority quarter is the part most often dropped when this provision is summarised. The rule as originally notified in 2009 spoke of Upper Division Clerks and carried no such figure; the 2016 substitution both renamed the feeder grade and fixed the qualifying service.

Direct recruitment continues to run each year. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memoranda No. 7/7/2025-CS.I(A) dated 24 March 2025 and No. 7/9/2026-CS.I(A) dated 10 June 2026 handled pre-appointment formalities for the Assistant Section Officer grade on the Combined Graduate Level Examinations of 2024 and 2025 respectively. Rule 13(1) places a direct recruit or a promotee to the grade on probation for two years, and rule 10 provides that confirmation in the service is made once only, at entry.

The Section Officers’ Grade: one Select List, filled from two sides

Rule 12(1)(a), as substituted by clause 2(E)(I) of G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016, fills regular vacancies in the Section Officers’ Grade by appointment of persons included in the Select List for that grade. The Select List itself comprises 50% from regular officers of the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade who have rendered not less than eight years of approved service in that grade, and 50% from persons selected through the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination.

That structure matters, and it is widely written the other way round. There is no separate examination channel sitting alongside a Select List channel. There is one Select List, and the examination supplies half of it. An Assistant Section Officer who does not sit the examination still reaches the grade on the seniority half after eight years of approved service; an Assistant Section Officer who clears it reaches the same list earlier. There is no direct recruitment to the grade from the open market.

The examination is the Combined Section Officers’ (Grade B) Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, and its rules are notified afresh for each examination year. The current instrument is G.S.R. 819(E) dated 16 September 2026, gazette No. 749, for the 2026 examination, with a crucial date of eligibility of 1 July 2026. It covers six services, of which Category I is the Section Officers’ Grade of the Central Secretariat Service, the others being the Indian Foreign Service Branch B General Cadre, the Railway Board Secretariat Service, the Intelligence Bureau, the Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, and the Assistant Director, Section Officer and Manager Grade I posts in the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.

Eligibility for Category I is not less than five years of approved service and at least four Annual Performance Appraisal Reports in the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade of the Central Secretariat Service or the Personal Assistants’ Grade of the Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service, a Personal Assistant needing a bachelor’s degree as well. For the 2026 examination that condition was relaxed: Department of Personnel and Training Order No. 21/06/2026-CS.I(P) dated 15 September 2026 permits direct recruit Assistant Section Officers of the 2020 batch with three years of approved service and three Annual Performance Appraisal Reports to appear, expressly in exercise of rule 23 read with the amendment rules of 2016 and 2022. That order is the first visible use of the relaxation power as widened in 2022.

The Select Lists themselves are made under regulations. The Central Secretariat Service (Preparation of Select Lists for the Section Officers’ and Assistants’ Grades) Regulations, 2013 were notified as G.S.R. 483(E) dated 12 July 2013, renamed and amended by G.S.R. 756(E) dated 2 August 2016, and given retrospective effect from 12 July 2013 by G.S.R. 446(E) dated 16 June 2023.

Grade I and above, and the route to Joint Secretary

Rule 11(3) fills regular vacancies in Grade I by promotion of Section Officers who have rendered not less than eight years of approved service in the grade and are included in the Grade I Select List, which rule 11(4) requires to be prepared and published every year. Grade I carries the designation Under Secretary to the Government of India at Level 11, so the promotion from Level 8 crosses both the Group A line and three pay levels.

Promotion to the higher grades runs on the same Select List machinery under rules 11 and 12, with the promotion regulations of 19 March 2010 governing the Senior Selection Grade, the Selection Grade and Grade I. Clause 2(D) of G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016 added a proviso to rule 11(1) relaxing the eligibility where enough candidates are not available:

Provided that where sufficient number of eligible officers with five years’ approved service are not available, regular officers of Selection Grade with not less than three years’ of regular service in that grade and not less than ten years approved service from their appointment to the Grade-I, shall also be eligible for promotion.

The Senior Selection Grade is where the service ends. Joint Secretary is not a grade of the Central Secretariat Service, and an officer reaches that level by two separate steps that are routinely conflated. The first is empanelment, an Appointments Committee of the Cabinet decision taken officer by officer and processed through the Office of the Establishment Officer, the same machinery that runs the Central Staffing Scheme. Office Memorandum No. 21/2/2015-CS.I(D) dated 23 January 2015 records the Committee’s approval of the empanelment of three Central Secretariat Service officers, identified by Common Seniority List number, for holding the post of Joint Secretary or equivalent at the Centre. The second is appointment as Joint Secretary (in-situ), a separate order stream that places an already empanelled Director in the Senior Administrative Grade at the existing place of posting, against the ceiling of 40 in-situ posts fixed by the second cadre restructuring.

Empanelment is therefore the exception and not the ordinary course, and the Department of Personnel and Training’s own CS Division material records that the service, unlike most other Group B services, is not a feeder to any All India Service or to any Central Group A service.

The non-functional scale in rule 17

Rule 17 grants a Section Officer of the Central Secretariat Service a non-functional scale of Pay Band 3 with grade pay Rs. 5,400 on completing four years of approved service in the grade, and the Note to the rule states that the officer continues in Group B gazetted. There is no cadre percentage ceiling and no Departmental Promotion Committee: paragraph 2 of Office Memorandum F. No. 6/4/2014-CS-I(S) dated 16 September 2016 requires only vigilance clearance.

Which pay matrix level the scale carries after 2016 is not settled by any order. Rule 17 still prescribes Pay Band 3 with grade pay Rs. 5,400, which the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 map to Level 10 with an entry basic pay of Rs. 56,100. The 7th Central Pay Commission recommended at paragraph 7.1.4(b) that the upgrade instead run from Level 8 to Level 9, so that it spans one level and not two. The Resolution of 25 July 2016 is silent on that paragraph, rule 17 was untouched by both the 2016 and the 2022 amendment rules, and the Department of Personnel and Training’s information document F. No. 5/4/2005-CS, updated 6 October 2022, says only that pay on grant is fixed under rule 13 of the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016. The position is genuinely open, and a flat statement that a Section Officer reaches Level 10 after four years is an inference from the pay band mapping, not a notified entitlement.

This benefit is distinct from the Non-Functional Selection Grade and from non-functional upgradation, neither of which reaches the Central Secretariat Service. It is also distinct from MACP, against which it is offset under Office Memorandum No. 22/22/2009-CS.I(CR) dated 12 April 2010 and paragraph 3 of Office Memorandum No. 25/7/2019-CS.II(B) dated 27 August 2019.

The Rotational Transfer Policy

Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 01/01/2025-CS.I(P) dated 8 May 2026 is the current Rotational Transfer Policy for the service, effective from the date of its issue. It groups the cadre units into four sectoral groups, Rural Development and Social Sector, Economy Finance and Industries, Infrastructure Resources and Technology, and Governance and Security, and an officer who completes tenure in one group becomes eligible for transfer to any of the other three. Tenure means cumulative continuous service in one or more cadre units within the same group.

Paragraph 5(i) exempts officers within two years of superannuation, and within five years for Assistant Section Officers. Paragraph 6(i) exempts officers posted in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, and the offices of the Attorney General, the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitor General from the regular exercise altogether, and paragraph 9(ii) provides that no willingness is sought for posting to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat or the Central Vigilance Commission. The Union Public Service Commission may ask to retain an officer, but paragraph 9(iii) caps retention at 50% of the normal tenure or the officer’s promotion, whichever comes first. Outstation posts carry a normal tenure of five years under paragraph 10. Transfer on request is available under paragraph 11 on completing at least half the tenure for the grade, and only once in a grade.

Two operational provisions have teeth. Paragraph 2(iv) requires all transfers to be implemented through eHRMS only, with officer profiles updated at least once in six months. Paragraph 14, which cites rule 19 of the 2009 Rules, requires relief within 45 days of the transfer order and provides that an officer not relieved within that period is deemed to have been relieved and is not entitled to draw salary and allowances thereafter. Transfers are carried out twice in each calendar year for each grade, except on promotion.

The policy has been revised repeatedly. The 8 May 2026 order replaces guidelines issued on 17 February 2025 and 30 January 2025 under the same file number, which in turn replaced consolidated guidelines of 14 June 2023 and 2 November 2022, in a series that runs back to Order No. 21/66/04-CS.I dated 24 November 2004. A rotation date cited from any of the superseded orders is wrong by at least one revision.

Cadre restructuring

The service has been restructured three times and a fourth exercise is open. The first followed the Committee on Cadre Restructuring of the Central Secretariat Service set up in February 2001, which reported in February 2002 and whose decisions were approved by the Cabinet in October 2003.

The second restructuring was conveyed by Office Memorandum No. 19/1/2008-CS.I(P) dated 20 July 2010. It fixed the combined strength of Joint Secretary in-situ, Director and Deputy Secretary at 600, with a sub-ceiling of 40 in-situ Joint Secretary posts and 220 Director-level posts inside that 600, increased the Deputy Secretary and Director strength by 160 posts diverted from the Central Staffing Scheme, and upgraded 1,467 Upper Division Clerk posts to the Assistants’ Grade. The 40 and the 220 sit inside the 600 and are not additional to it.

The third restructuring produced the Report of the Committee on Third Cadre Restructuring of the Central Secretariat Service, issued under Office Memorandum No. 19/3/2013-CS-I(P) dated 10 October 2017, with follow-up instructions on 6 November 2017, 13 December 2017 and 10 January 2018.

The fourth committee was constituted by Order No. 19/02/2022-CS.I(P) dated 27 October 2022 under the Establishment Officer and Additional Secretary. Proposals were invited from ministries and departments by Office Memorandum No. 19/02/2022-CS.I(P)-Part-I dated 21 December 2022, and a further order of 19 January 2023 widened the exercise to cover the fourth restructuring of the stenographers’ service and the first of the clerical service. No order recording the outcome has issued.

The two sister services

Three ministerial cadres staff the Government of India Secretariat, and the Department of Personnel and Training is the cadre controlling authority for all three under entry 41 of the Allocation of Business Rules.

The Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service dates from 1951, with Grade III introduced from 1 December 1951 and Grades I and II from 1 May 1955, and was reorganised from 1 August 1969 by the Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service Rules, 1969. The current instrument is the Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service Rules, 2010, G.S.R. 931(E) dated 29 November 2010, which superseded the 1969 Rules together with the Private Secretary Grade Rules, 1989 and the Senior Principal Private Secretary Grade Rules, 2000. Rule 3 gives six grades: Principal Staff Officer, Senior Principal Private Secretary and Principal Private Secretary, all Group A Ministerial gazetted; Private Secretary, Group B Ministerial gazetted; Personal Assistant, Group B Ministerial non-gazetted; and Stenographer Grade D, Group C Ministerial non-gazetted. Rule 5(1) fixed 39 Principal Staff Officer, 76 Senior Principal Private Secretary and 148 Principal Private Secretary posts on the appointed day, and its First Schedule runs to 40 cadre units. Its Common Seniority List is prepared as on 1 July each year, six months out of step with the 1 January date in the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009.

The Central Secretariat Clerical Service was constituted alongside the Central Secretariat Service and is governed by the Central Secretariat Clerical Service Rules, 1962, notified as G.S.R. No. 1306 dated 28 September 1962 and in force from 1 November 1962. Rule 3(1) gives two non-gazetted Central Civil Service Group C grades, the Upper Division Grade and the Lower Division Grade, now designated Senior Secretariat Assistant and Junior Secretariat Assistant.

Fresh direct recruitment to the lower grade has been closed since 2005. Order No. 9/2/2003-CS-II dated 20 April 2005 records three decisions taken on the report of the Committee on Cadre Restructuring: to discontinue direct recruitment to the post of Lower Division Clerk, to abolish the vacant direct recruitment posts, and to change the mode of recruitment to 70% by promotion of Group D staff and 30% through a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for Group D staff. Paragraph 2 abolished the direct recruitment quota posts vacant as on 3 October 2003 and continues the abolition of 85% of the posts falling vacant in each Select List year. The same order withdrew the earlier restructuring instructions of 16 October 1979, 16 March 1992, 30 March 1994 and 11 September 1995. A first cadre review of the clerical service was set in motion by four Office Memoranda numbered 15/1/2022-CS.II(B), all dated 16 November 2022.

The practical link between the services runs through rule 12(2)(a) of the 2009 Rules: a Senior Secretariat Assistant of the clerical service reaches the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade on the 15% seniority quota after 10 years of approved service, or on the 10% examination quota, and a Personal Assistant of the stenographers’ service can sit the Section Officer examination under G.S.R. 819(E) of 16 September 2026.

Cadre management and the CSCMS portal

Cadre records for all three secretariat services are held on the Central Secretariat Cadre Management System at cscms.nic.in. Office Memorandum F. No. 21/04/2022-CSCMS dated 15 November 2022 revamped the portal for end-to-end online delivery of services, requiring an employee to log in through e-Parichay and stating that updating the profile is the pre-requisite to commencing any service. Paragraph 3.1 makes the nodal officer answerable where data is not updated in time, providing that the available data will be taken as final and the nodal officer held responsible if it is found incorrect.

The portal series runs back to Office Memorandum No. 21/11/2010-CS.I(U) dated 15 June 2012, which nominated the first nodal officers, and the same file number was used on 28 November 2013 to shift the system to the cscms.nic.in address. Its operational bite today comes from paragraph 2(iv) of the Rotational Transfer Policy of 8 May 2026, which makes eHRMS the only channel through which a transfer may be implemented.

Points commonly stated wrong

Seven statements about the service circulate widely and do not survive a reading of the current rules.

1. That the Section Officers’ Grade is filled 50% by examination and 50% by a separate Select List. Rule 12(1)(a) as substituted on 2 August 2016 puts both inside one Select List, of which each supplies half. The seniority half additionally requires eight years of approved service as an Assistant Section Officer.
2. That the Section Officer examination is governed by a 2015 notification. The rules are notified for each examination year. The current instrument is G.S.R. 819(E) dated 16 September 2026, and it covers six services, not five.
3. That the 2009 Schedule figures are the current sanctioned strength. The Notes inserted after rules 5(1) and 6 on 2 August 2016 make the strength and its cadre unit distribution expressly variable by government order.
4. That a Section Officer is entitled to Level 10 after four years. Rule 17 prescribes a pay band and a grade pay, not a level, and no order issued on or after 1 January 2016 names the level. The 7th Central Pay Commission recommended Level 9 at paragraph 7.1.4(b) and the Resolution of 25 July 2016 did not act on it.
5. That a cadre unit is a separate seniority cadre. That was the position under rule 5 of the 1962 Rules. Rule 4 of the 2009 Rules puts every grade on one Common Seniority List.
6. That the service is an Organised Group A Service. Grade I and above are classified Group A Ministerial, which is not the same thing, and the Non-Functional Selection Grade confined to the Organised Group A Services does not reach it.
7. That the Central Secretariat Service (Amendment) Rules, 2022 changed the cadre. G.S.R. 721(E) dated 22 September 2022 amended rules 21 and 23 only, both of which are about rule-making and relaxation.

Related Articles

• Assistant Section Officer (ASO) salary
• Section Officer (SO) salary
• Under Secretary (US) salary
• Deputy Secretary salary
• Director salary
• Central Secretariat Clerical Service
• Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service
• Stenographer salary
• Department of Personnel and Training
• Union Public Service Commission
• SSC Combined Graduate Level (CGL) salary
• Pay matrix
• CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Central government employees in India
• Promotion
• Seniority
• Probation in central government service
• Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR)
• SPARROW
• MACP compared with promotion
• Non-functional upgradation (NFU)
• Non-Functional Selection Grade
• Organised Group A Services
• Central Staffing Scheme
• Empanelment
• Deputation in central government
• Cadre review
• Recruitment rules
• Lien
• Joining time
• Cabinet Secretariat
• Central Vigilance Commission
• Ad-hoc bonus
• Dearness allowance
• House rent allowance
• Transport allowance
• Split duty allowance
• Immovable property return
• Civil Services Examination

External references

• Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009, G.S.R. 140(E) dated 27 February 2009
• Central Secretariat Service (Amendment) Rules, 2022, G.S.R. 721(E) dated 22 September 2022
• Rotational Transfer Policy for the Central Secretariat Service, OM No. 01/01/2025-CS.I(P) dated 8 May 2026
• Central Secretariat Service Rules, 1962, Department of Personnel and Training consolidated text
• Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service Rules, 2010, G.S.R. 931(E) dated 29 November 2010
• Order No. 9/2/2003-CS-II dated 20 April 2005 on discontinuing direct recruitment to the Lower Division Clerk grade
• OM No. 21/2/2015-CS.I(D) dated 23 January 2015, empanelment of CSS officers as Joint Secretary
• Department of Personnel and Training

References

1. Central Secretariat Service Rules, 2009, notified as G.S.R. 140(E) dated 27 February 2009, F. No. 5/24/2004-CS.I: rule 2(f) and 2(g) (cadre unit and cadre controlling authority), rule 3 (five grades in two groups), rule 4 (Common Seniority List), rule 5 and rule 6 with the Second Schedule (strength and cadre unit distribution), rule 10 (confirmation at entry only), rule 11 (promotion and Select Lists), rule 12 (recruitment), rule 13 (probation), rule 17 (non-functional scale), rules 19 and 20 (inter-cadre transfer and new cadre units), rule 21 (regulations), rule 23 (power to relax) and rule 24 (repeal and savings).
2. Central Secretariat Service Rules, 1962, in force from 1 October 1962: rule 3 (four grades), rule 4 (combined gradation list for the Selection Grade and Grade I) and rule 5 (separate ministry cadres for the two lower grades).
3. Central Secretariat Service (Amendment) Rules, 2016, G.S.R. 753(E) dated 2 August 2016, F. No. 1/8/2009-CS.I(P): clause 2(A) (renaming of the Assistants’ Grade), clause 2(B) and 2(C) (Notes on variation of strength), clause 2(D) (proviso to rule 11(1)), clause 2(E) (substitution of rules 12(1) and 12(2)) and clause 2(J) (consultation with the Commission in rule 23).
4. Central Secretariat Service (Amendment) Rules, 2022, G.S.R. 721(E) dated 22 September 2022, F. No. 25/04/2022-CS.I(P), amending rules 21 and 23.
5. Rules for the Combined Section Officers’ (Grade B) Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, 2026, G.S.R. 819(E) dated 16 September 2026, and Department of Personnel and Training Order No. 21/06/2026-CS.I(P) dated 15 September 2026 relaxing eligibility for the 2020 direct recruit batch.
6. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 01/01/2025-CS.I(P) dated 8 May 2026, Rotational Transfer Policy for the Central Secretariat Service.
7. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 19/1/2008-CS.I(P) dated 20 July 2010 (second cadre restructuring), Office Memorandum No. 19/3/2013-CS-I(P) dated 10 October 2017 (third cadre restructuring report) and Order No. 19/02/2022-CS.I(P) dated 27 October 2022 (fourth cadre restructuring committee).
8. Department of Personnel and Training Order No. 9/2/2003-CS-II dated 20 April 2005, discontinuing direct recruitment to the Lower Division Clerk grade of the Central Secretariat Clerical Service.
9. Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service Rules, 2010, G.S.R. 931(E) dated 29 November 2010, rules 3, 4 and 5(1); and Central Secretariat Clerical Service Rules, 1962, G.S.R. No. 1306 dated 28 September 1962, rules 3(1) and 4.
10. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum F. No. 6/4/2014-CS-I(S) dated 16 September 2016 (non-functional scale, clarification) and Office Memorandum F. No. 21/04/2022-CSCMS dated 15 November 2022 (Central Secretariat Cadre Management System).