Deputation in central government

Deputation is the temporary posting of a central government employee, by transfer and in the public interest, to an ex-cadre post outside the employee’s normal field of deployment, with the employee retaining a lien on the parent post and reverting to it at the end of a fixed tenure. It is governed by the consolidated guidelines of the Department of Personnel and Training in Office Memorandum No. DOPT-1711629234974 dated 28 March 2024, which replaced the 2010 consolidation and folds seventeen separate orders into one text. Where the posting is to a body outside government, so that the employee draws pay from a source other than the Consolidated Fund of India, it is foreign service as defined in Fundamental Rule 9(7).

The deputation (duty) allowance is 5% of basic pay within the same station, capped at Rs. 5,625 a month, and 10% on a change of station, capped at Rs. 11,250 a month, with effect from 1 January 2024. The percentages have been unchanged across two pay commissions; the ceilings rose 25% from Rs. 4,500 and Rs. 9,000 when dearness allowance reached 50%, under the escalation clause the 7th Central Pay Commission wrote into paragraph 8.5.7 of its report.

This article sets out the test that separates a deputation from a transfer, the categories of deputation and the cases the guidelines do not reach, the eligibility and level restrictions, the two pay options and how pay is fixed under each, the deputation (duty) allowance with its ceilings and the three ways an upgraded parent pay affects it, the tenure and the fifth-year cut-off, the cooling-off period, foreign service and the pension contribution that keeps the period counting, the treatment of other allowances and leave, the consequences of overstaying, and the separate route of the Central Staffing Scheme.

What deputation is, and the test that defines it

A deputation is an appointment made by transfer on a temporary basis, provided the transfer is outside the employee’s normal field of deployment and is in the public interest. That two-part test is paragraph 3.1 of the consolidated guidelines OM No. DOPT-1711629234974 dated 28 March 2024, and it carries a jurisdictional rider that decides most disputes: the question whether a transfer is outside the normal field of deployment is decided by the authority which controls the service or post from which the employee is transferred, not by the borrowing organisation that wants the officer.

Four kinds of appointment are expressly not deputation, and the distinction matters because the deputation terms, including the allowance, do not follow them. Paragraph 3.2 lists appointment of a serving employee by promotion or by direct recruitment from the open market, a permanent appointment made by transfer or absorption, a temporary appointment made on the employee’s own personal request, and an arrangement necessitated by staff imbalances on the reorganisation of offices. The last of these carries an explicit condition that no deputation (duty) allowance is admissible.

This is where deputation differs from a plain transfer, which is a posting within the same cadre with no change of lien and no allowance, and from a technical resignation, where the parent post is genuinely relinquished to take up another appointment through a fresh selection. A deputation keeps the parent post; a technical resignation gives it up. The employee on deputation continues to hold a lien on the parent post throughout.

The order that governs deputation today

The operative document is DoPT Office Memorandum No. DOPT-1711629234974 dated 28 March 2024, titled “Consolidated guidelines on deputation/foreign service for Central Government employees”. It is the reference point for every rule in this article, and it displaced the older consolidation that most secondary summaries still cite.

The lineage runs through three consolidations. DoPT OM No. AB-14017/2/07-Estt.(RR) dated 29 February 2008 issued the first set of consolidated guidelines on appointments to posts filled on deputation. DoPT OM No. 6/8/2009-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 17 June 2010 consolidated the pay, allowance and tenure terms. The 2024 order absorbs both, along with fifteen further orders listed in its annexure, among them the deputation (duty) allowance order of 24 November 2017, the tenure amendment of 18 May 2018, the eligibility relaxation of 18 October 2018, the pay-fixation amendment of 2 March 2021 and the upgraded-pay clarification of 15 March 2021. The 2010 order survives as a component of the 2024 text, not as the governing instrument.

Paragraph 14 fixes the dates of effect, and they are staggered rather than uniform. The orders take effect from 1 January 2016 and apply to all officers who were on deputation on that date or appointed thereafter, with four exceptions: the revised deputation (duty) allowance rates apply from 1 July 2017, paragraphs 8.1 and 8.2 on tenure from 18 May 2018, paragraph 8.3.1(iii) barring extension beyond the seventh year from 17 February 2016, and paragraph 9.2.1 on relaxed eligibility from 18 October 2018.

One layer sits above the consolidation for a specific group. Deputation of Group A officers of the central government to ex-cadre posts under a state government or union territory administration, including bodies under them, is regulated by DoPT OM No. 6/8/2023-Pers.Policy (Deputation/Re-employment) Pt.XV dated 15 March 2024, modified on 13 August 2024 and 18 September 2024. An order of the same file number dated 30 August 2024 does the same for Group B officers. Anything those orders do not spell out falls back on the 28 March 2024 consolidation.

Categories of deputation, and the cases the guidelines do not reach

Paragraph 3 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation divides deputation into five categories, and the terms differ by category. The first is the Central Staffing Scheme, which fills senior administrative posts at the Centre and is handled in the Office of the Establishment Officer under DoPT OM No. DOPT-1705650752584 dated 19 January 2024. The second is the non-Central Staffing Scheme group, covering posts of Chief Vigilance Officer, posts in statutory bodies and autonomous institutions substantially funded or controlled by the central government, posts in central public sector undertakings filled through the Public Enterprises Selection Board, posts in constitutional bodies, and posts in non-permanent non-statutory bodies set up by executive order, such as a pay commission or an inquiry commission. An officer moving from a Central Staffing Scheme post to a non-Central Staffing Scheme post, or the reverse, is eligible for an additional tenure of two years, subject to at least two years on either post.

The third category is deputation to international organisations: United Nations bodies, international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank, multilateral organisations of which India is a member, bilateral bodies set up under the Vienna Convention, and international non-governmental or funding organisations from which India receives assistance. Proposals for officers of Joint Secretary level and above are screened by a committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary with the Secretary (Personnel) and the Finance Secretary, and the final decision rests with the Prime Minister; for officers below that level the screening committee is chaired by the Secretary of the cadre controlling ministry and the decision is taken by the Minister-in-charge. The maximum tenure in this category is 5 years at a stretch.

The fourth category covers an autonomous body, trust, society or private body not controlled by government, and it is gated by four cumulative conditions in paragraph 3(d): the body must be functionally autonomous of the central and state governments, not substantially funded by them, outside their power of direction, and not a company registered under the Registration of Companies Act. The maximum tenure here is also 5 years at a stretch. The fifth category, ex-cadre deputation, is the ordinary case this article otherwise describes.

Five classes of case are outside the consolidated guidelines altogether under paragraph 2.2, and each is governed by its own instructions: members of the All India Services and officers deputed to posts whose terms are set by statutory rules, officers appointed under the Central Staffing Scheme, deputation to posts operated outside India, appointments to the personal staff of Ministers, and deemed deputations or transfers made in the exigencies of service on the specific condition that no deputation (duty) allowance is admissible, such as an interim arrangement when a government office is converted into a public sector undertaking, or an appointment to the same post in another cadre.

Eligibility and the level restrictions

A central government employee becomes eligible for deputation to a state government, a union territory administration, or an autonomous body, trust, society or public sector undertaking not controlled by the central government only after completing 9 years of service, and must be clear from the vigilance angle. That is paragraph 9.2 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation, and it is why vigilance clearance is the first document a deputation proposal needs.

Paragraph 9.2.1 relaxes the floor in two situations, each requiring the approval of the Minister-in-charge of the ministry, department or organisation. An employee who has completed 7 years of service in the cadre may go on deputation to any state of the North-Eastern Region, or to the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep, or on foreign service to any entity controlled by and located in those states and union territories. An employee may go on deputation to a state government or union territory on spouse grounds after 6 years of service in the cadre. Both relaxations date from DoPT OM No. 2/15/2017-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 18 October 2018 and apply from that date.

Two restrictions then bar particular moves regardless of length of service. Paragraph 3.3 provides that a person in a higher level of the pay matrix shall not be appointed on deputation to a post in a lower level where the deputation is from the central government to the central government, and also where the pay scale and dearness allowance pattern in the parent cadre post and the ex-cadre post are similar. Deputation is not a route downward.

Paragraph 3.4, inserted by DoPT OM No. 2/9/2018-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 12 April 2021, handles the harder case where the pay structures are dissimilar. No appointment on deputation may be made where the basic pay in the parent cadre increased by one increment, plus dearness allowance and any interim relief, exceeds the basic pay plus dearness allowance and interim relief at the maximum of the pay level of the ex-cadre post. In the revised pay structure the maximum of the scale means the last cell of the level. The illustration in the order takes an ex-cadre post in Level 7 of the pay matrix, whose last cell is Rs. 1,42,400, and bars the appointment where the parent-cadre emoluments computed that way exceed it. The purpose is to stop an officer being deputed into a post whose ceiling is already below what the officer earns.

The pay option

An employee going on deputation or foreign service elects one of two ways to be paid, and this is the first decision a deputationist makes. Under paragraph 4.1 the employee draws either the pay in the level of the pay matrix attached to the deputation post, or the basic pay in the parent cadre plus the deputation (duty) allowance on it plus personal pay, if any. Paragraph 7.4 adds a limit that is easy to miss: personal pay continues to be admissible under the second option, but no deputation (duty) allowance is calculated on it.

The borrowing authority obtains the option within one month of the date of joining the ex-cadre post unless the employee has furnished it first, under paragraph 4.2. Paragraph 4.3 makes the option final. One category of deputation removes the choice entirely: on the appointment of a government employee on deputation or foreign service to a central public sector enterprise, the option is not allowed, and pay is governed by the Department of Public Enterprises Office Memorandum dated 26 November 2008 and the clarifications issued after it. The same removal applies on reverse foreign service where the pay structure or dearness allowance pattern of the borrowing post is dissimilar to the parent organisation.

How pay is fixed on the deputation post

Where the employee elects the pay of the ex-cadre post and the deputation is from the central government to the central government, paragraph 5.1(i) fixes pay in three steps. One increment is given in the level of the parent cadre post. The employee is then placed at the cell equal to the figure so arrived at in the level of the ex-cadre post. If no such cell exists in that level, the employee goes to the next higher cell; if the figure is below the minimum of the ex-cadre level, pay is fixed at that minimum. Where the levels of the ex-cadre post and the parent cadre post are identical, the employee simply continues to draw the existing basic pay.

Foreign service and reverse foreign service follow the same method where the index level and dearness allowance pattern match. Where they are dissimilar, paragraph 5.1(ii)(b) fixes pay by an emoluments-matching exercise: one increment is added to the basic pay of the substantive parent post, dearness allowance and any interim relief are added, and pay in the ex-cadre post is fixed at the stage where total emoluments there equal the emoluments drawn in the parent cadre, or at the next higher stage if there is no exact match. On a deputation from a state government to the central government the basic pay after fixation must not exceed the maximum of the level of the ex-cadre post. These provisions were rewritten into pay matrix terms by DoPT OM No. 2/10/2018-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 2 March 2021.

Two notes under paragraph 5 carry a warning for officers holding an ad-hoc promotion. Note 2 treats an officer holding a higher post on an ad-hoc basis as having vacated it on proceeding on deputation, so the officer proceeds from the regular post and earns notional increments in that regular post. On reversion and re-appointment to the higher post, pay is fixed with reference to the lower post as on the date of re-appointment, and if that leaves the officer below a junior who stayed in the cadre, no stepping up is admissible. The pay earlier drawn on an ad-hoc basis is protected, but the seniority-linked pay disadvantage is not cured. The order tells officers holding or expecting an ad-hoc higher post to weigh this before opting for deputation. The general rules on stepping up of pay do not override this carve-out.

When the option can be revised

The option is final, but paragraph 4.4 lists three occasions on which it may be revised, each effective from the date the event occurs: a proforma promotion, appointment to a non-functional selection grade or an upgradation of scale in the parent cadre; a reversion to a lower grade in the parent cadre; and a revision of the pay scale or level of either the parent cadre post or the ex-cadre post, whether prospective or retrospective. On such a revision the pay is re-fixed with reference to the revised entitlement in the parent cadre, and where the initial option was for the deputation post’s scale and no change is sought, the pay already drawn is protected if the re-fixed pay is lower.

A note under paragraph 4.4 closes the obvious loophole: a revision in the rates of dearness allowance, house rent allowance or any other allowance, in either the parent or the borrowing organisation, is not an occasion for revising the option. Paragraph 4.5 runs the rule in the other direction, so that a downward revision of parent cadre pay makes the ex-cadre pay liable to re-fixation as well.

The deputation (duty) allowance

The deputation (duty) allowance is 5% of basic pay within the same station, subject to a maximum of Rs. 5,625 a month, and 10% of basic pay on a change of station, subject to a maximum of Rs. 11,250 a month, with effect from 1 January 2024. The percentages are in paragraph 6.1(a) and 6.1(b) of the consolidated guidelines OM No. DOPT-1711629234974 dated 28 March 2024, sourced to DoPT OM No. 2/11/2017-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 24 November 2017; the ceilings are those figures as escalated under paragraph 6.1(c), described below.

Basic pay for this purpose means the pay drawn by the deputationist, from time to time, in the prescribed level of the pay matrix of the post held substantively in the parent cadre, and it does not include any other type of pay such as personal pay. “Same station” is determined by reference to the station where the person was on duty before proceeding on deputation. Where there is no change in headquarters with reference to the last post held, the transfer is within the same station; places falling within the same urban agglomeration of the old headquarters are also treated as within the same station, so a move across a city draws the 5% rate rather than the 10% one.

Three further rules fix the rate in situations the base provision does not reach. Paragraph 6.2 preserves special rates of deputation (duty) allowance notified for particular areas where living conditions are arduous or unattractive, and gives the employee the benefit of the special rate where it is more favourable. Paragraph 6.3.1 keeps the rate unchanged where an employee moves from one ex-cadre post to another, with the competent authority’s permission and without reverting to the parent cadre, if the second post is at the same station as the first. Paragraph 6.3.2 refixes the rate at the 10% change-of-station figure where the borrowing authority transfers the deputationist from one station to another without any change in the post held.

The ceilings after the dearness allowance escalation

The ceilings of Rs. 4,500 and Rs. 9,000 fixed for 1 July 2017 are no longer the operative figures, and the mechanism that changed them is written into the order itself. Paragraph 6.1(c) provides that the ceilings will rise by 25% each time dearness allowance increases by 50%. That clause originates in paragraph 8.5.7 of the 7th Central Pay Commission report, which recommended raising the 6th CPC ceilings of Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 4,000 by a factor of 2.25 and added the escalator expressly because, as the Commission noted in the same paragraph, “the ceilings are not DA indexed”.

Dearness allowance reached 50% of basic pay with effect from 1 January 2024, under Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1/2024-E.II(B) dated 12 March 2024. The first 25% step therefore took the same-station ceiling from Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 5,625 and the change-of-station ceiling from Rs. 9,000 to Rs. 11,250, both from 1 January 2024. No separate order was issued or needed: Department of Expenditure I.D. No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 20 March 2024, addressed to the Controller General of Accounts, records that no separate order is required for the increase of allowances consequent on the rise of dearness allowance to 50%, and drawing and disbursing officers pay the enhanced ceilings directly.

The next step comes at 100%, not at 75%, because the escalator is keyed to 50-percentage-point crossings of the 7th CPC base rather than to every dearness allowance order. Dearness allowance is 60% from 1 January 2026, so no further enhancement is due and the Rs. 5,625 and Rs. 11,250 ceilings will hold for some years. The same escalator moved the children education allowance, the hostel subsidy and the dress allowance on the same date, which is why several fixed-rupee allowances stepped up together on 1 January 2024.

The percentages themselves, 5% and 10%, do not move with dearness allowance. Only the rupee ceilings step up, which means the escalation bites only on officers whose basic pay is high enough for the percentage to hit the cap: Rs. 1,12,500 of basic pay at the 5% rate, and the same figure at the 10% rate on a change of station reaching the Rs. 11,250 cap.

Upgraded parent pay: NFU, MACP and the non-functional selection grade

Where the basic pay in the parent cadre has been upgraded on account of non-functional upgradation, the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme or the non-functional selection grade, the treatment of the deputation (duty) allowance splits at Level 14 of the pay matrix, and only one branch of the split is commonly quoted.

Under paragraph 6.1.2, where the upgradation is up to Level 13A and the officer has opted for the upgraded parent-cadre pay, the upgraded basic pay is not taken into account for the deputation (duty) allowance. The allowance is computed on the basic pay the officer was drawing before the upgradation, and that presumptive pay is carried forward each year by giving annual increments on it. The officer keeps the upgraded pay and draws the allowance on the lower notional figure.

Under paragraph 6.1.3, where the upgradation is to Level 14 or above, the officer is instead given an option: draw the upgraded basic pay without the deputation (duty) allowance, or draw the pay held before the upgradation with the allowance, whichever is more beneficial. At and above Level 14 the choice belongs to the officer rather than to the rule. Both provisions come from DoPT OM No. 2/11/2017-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 15 March 2021.

Proforma promotion under the Next Below Rule

A proforma promotion in the parent cadre under the Next Below Rule protects an officer on deputation from being overtaken by juniors, and paragraph 6.1.4 to 6.1.6 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation splits its effect on the allowance three ways, not two.

Where the proforma promotion is up to Level 13A and to a level higher than that of the ex-cadre post, and the officer has opted for the upgraded pay, paragraph 6.1.4 leaves that pay out of the deputation (duty) allowance. The allowance is computed on the pre-promotion presumptive pay, carried forward by annual increments. The reasoning is that an officer whose notional parent-cadre pay has overtaken the deputation post is no longer being elevated by the deputation.

Where the proforma promotion is to a level equal to or below that of the ex-cadre post, paragraph 6.1.5 makes the allowance admissible on the parent-cadre pay allowed under the proforma promotion, if the deputationist opts for it, because the deputation still represents at least a lateral move.

Where the promotion is to Level 14 or above, paragraph 6.1.6 gives the same option as paragraph 6.1.3 does for an upgradation: the upgraded pay without the allowance, or the pre-promotion pay with it, whichever is more beneficial, with the allowance computed on the pre-upgraded presumptive pay carried forward by annual increments.

Paragraph 10 covers what happens to the deputation itself when a proforma promotion lands mid-tenure. The officer completes the normal or extended tenure already sanctioned. If the parent-cadre level becomes higher than that of the deputation post, the officer may draw the pay of the promoted level if he so opts, and further extensions are then considered under paragraphs 8.1 to 8.3.2. If the officer instead draws the pay of the deputation post, pay on reversion is fixed by allowing notional increments in the regular parent post.

The overall pay cap

A second cap sits above the slab ceilings and protects the pay hierarchy at the top. Under paragraph 6.1(d) of the 28 March 2024 consolidation, basic pay from time to time plus the deputation (duty) allowance must not exceed the basic pay at the apex level, Rs. 2,25,000 a month. A senior officer whose basic pay is already near the apex cannot use the allowance to draw more in total; the allowance is trimmed to keep the sum within that figure.

A separate cap applies to a government servant who also draws non-practising allowance, such as a doctor on deputation. For them, basic pay plus non-practising allowance plus the deputation (duty) allowance must not exceed Rs. 2,37,500, which is the average of the basic pay of the apex level and that of the Cabinet Secretary. Both caps bite only on the senior-most officers. For the great majority of deputationists the slab ceilings of Rs. 5,625 and Rs. 11,250 are the operative limits.

A worked pay comparison

Which pay option wins turns on whether the deputation post is at a higher level than the parent post. Take an employee whose parent-cadre basic pay is Rs. 67,700, the entry cell of Level 11, deputed on a change of station, and apply the paragraph 5.1(i) method to option (a).

The deputation (duty) allowance here is 10% of Rs. 67,700, which is Rs. 6,770, within the Rs. 11,250 ceiling. When the deputation post is at a higher level, option (a) usually wins, because the pay of the higher post exceeds the parent pay plus the allowance. When the deputation post is at the same level, option (b) wins, because the allowance is pure addition to a basic pay that would not have changed. The gap in the second row is Rs. 6,770 a month, or Rs. 81,240 over a year before dearness allowance, and the choice is final under paragraph 4.3, so both figures should be computed before the option is furnished. The pay fixation article covers the general rules that regulate pay on return.

Tenure, extension and the fifth-year cut-off

A deputation runs for the period prescribed in the recruitment rules of the ex-cadre post, or 5 years where no tenure regulations exist for that post, under paragraph 8.1 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation. Where the prescribed period is 5 years or less, paragraph 8.2 allows the borrowing ministry, department or organisation to grant extension up to the 6th year after obtaining the orders of their Secretary in the central government, the Chief Secretary in a state government, or the equivalent officer elsewhere, and for the 7th year with the approval of the minister of the borrowing ministry. Both provisions were inserted by DoPT OM No. 2/6/2018-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 18 May 2018 and apply from that date.

Paragraph 8.3.1 attaches three conditions to any extension to the seventh year. It requires the prior approval of the lending organisation, the consent of the official concerned and, where necessary, the approval of the Union Public Service Commission or the state public service commission and the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. A borrowing organisation wishing to retain an officer beyond the prescribed tenure must initiate action to seek those concurrences six months before the tenure expires, and must not retain the official beyond the sanctioned term without prior approval. Paragraph 8.3.1(iii) is absolute: no further extension beyond the 7th year shall be granted.

One provision is non-obvious and costs money. Paragraph 8.3.2 states that the deputation (duty) allowance is admissible only up to the fifth year, sourced to DoPT OM No. 2/6/2016-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 23 February 2017. An officer whose tenure is extended into the sixth and seventh years keeps the posting and loses the allowance. At the Rs. 11,250 ceiling that is Rs. 1,35,000 a year foregone, and it is a reason to compare the extension against a return to the parent cadre rather than treat it as a straightforward continuation.

Cooling-off between deputations

There is a mandatory cooling-off period after every period of deputation or foreign service, during which the employee serves in the parent cadre before going on deputation again. Paragraph 9.1 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation sets it at 3 years after a deputation up to Joint Secretary level, meaning a deputation post carrying pay in Level 14 of the pay matrix, and 1 year for Additional Secretary level posts, meaning Level 15. The provision comes from DoPT OM No. 2/1/2012-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 4 January 2013.

The same paragraph binds the parent department at the sponsoring stage rather than only at the relieving stage. Ministries and departments are told not to sponsor the name of an officer who is not likely to complete the mandatory cooling-off period by the time the officer is likely to be selected. Where a name is nevertheless sponsored before the period is complete, the parent cadre authority must inform the borrowing department that the officer will be relieved only after the cooling-off is completed. An officer who applies too early is therefore liable to be selected and then held back, which is the practical reason the cooling-off date, not the selection date, governs planning.

Foreign service, pension and provident fund

Foreign service, a posting to a body outside government where pay comes from a source other than the Consolidated Fund of India, raises a question the ordinary deputation does not: does the period still count for pension? It does, but only if the contributions are paid.

Fundamental Rule 115 requires that, while in foreign service, a contribution towards the cost of the pension be paid to the government, and, where the foreign service is in India, a leave-salary contribution as well. Fundamental Rule 116 sets the rates, graded by length of service. Fundamental Rule 117 states the basis on which those rates are fixed, which is to secure to the government servant the pension that would have been earned by service under government had the servant not been transferred to foreign service, and the rates are payable only during active foreign service. Fundamental Rule 121 bars the employee from earning any pension or gratuity from the foreign employer for the same period. The qualifying service is preserved through foreign service precisely because the contribution is paid.

Who pays the contribution is fixed in the terms of deputation, and paragraph 7.7 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation sets three different answers. Between ministries and departments of the central government, and between the central government and a state government in either direction, allocation of leave-salary and pension contribution has been dispensed with: liability for leave salary vests with the department that sanctioned the leave, and liability for pension is borne by the parent department to which the officer permanently belongs at the time of retirement, with no proportionate contribution recovered. On a deputation to a central or state public sector undertaking or an autonomous body, the leave-salary contribution, except for the period of leave availed on foreign service, and the pension or employer’s share of contributory provident fund contribution, are payable to the central government either by the employee or by the borrowing organisation, and the terms of deputation must state clearly which of the two bears the liability. On reverse deputation into the central government, the question is decided by mutual consent. This allocation rule comes from DoPT OM No. 6/8/2009-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 15 February 2012.

For an employee covered by the National Pension System, paragraph 7.7(iv) requires the borrowing department to make the requisite contribution to the employee’s NPS account. Through all of this the employee remains a subscriber to the General Provident Fund of the parent cadre, because the parent-cadre membership and the lien continue. Fundamental Rule 124 adds a limit that matters on return: pay drawn in foreign service is not taken into account when pay is fixed on reversion to the parent cadre.

Other allowances, leave and medical facilities

One general rule caps everything in this area, and it is stated in paragraph 7.6(a): an allowance not admissible to regular employees of corresponding status in the borrowing organisation is not admissible to the officer on deputation, even if it was admissible in the parent organisation. The deputationist is measured against the borrowing organisation’s staff, not against former colleagues.

Five allowances are regulated by mutual consent between the lending and the borrowing organisation under paragraph 7.6(b): house rent allowance and transport allowance, joining time and joining-time pay, the travelling allowance and transfer travelling allowance, children education allowance, and Leave Travel Concession. Three more are regulated by a fixed rule under paragraph 7.6(c). Dearness allowance is drawn at the rates prevailing in the borrowing or the lending organisation according to which pay option the employee chose. Medical facilities follow the rules of the borrowing organisation. Leave is governed by the leave rules of the parent organisation, except that an employee moving from a vacation department to a non-vacation department, or the reverse, is governed by the borrowing organisation’s leave rules; and on reversion the borrowing organisation may allow leave not exceeding two months, beyond which the employee applies to the cadre controlling authority. The CCS Leave Rules therefore continue to apply to most deputationists throughout.

Three provisions deal with allowances that interact with the deputation (duty) allowance itself. A project allowance admissible in a project area in the borrowing organisation may be drawn in addition to the deputation (duty) allowance, under paragraph 7.1. A special allowance granted in the parent department under Fundamental Rule 9(25) is not allowed in addition, though under paragraph 7.2 the borrowing department may allow it in special circumstances by suitably restricting the deputation (duty) allowance, with the specific and prior approval of the Department of Personnel and Training. Where a special allowance attaches to the scale of the ex-cadre post, paragraph 7.3 grants it only to an employee who has opted for the pay of that post, and not to one drawing parent-cadre pay plus the deputation (duty) allowance.

A fourth provision covers service officers. Under paragraph 7.6(d), where an army officer entitled to Military Service Pay in the parent cadre opts for parent-cadre pay on deputation to a civil post, Military Service Pay is admissible as a separate element, but the deputation (duty) allowance is reckoned only on basic pay and not on Military Service Pay. This rests on a Department of Expenditure clarification dated 16 February 2017.

Overstay and premature reversion

An officer who stays on after the deputation period expires is deemed to have been relieved on the date of expiry, unless the competent authority extended the period in writing, with the requisite approvals, before that date. That is paragraph 12 of the 28 March 2024 consolidation, sourced to DoPT OM No. 6/8/2009-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 1 March 2011, and it places the duty of preventing an overstay on the deputationist’s immediate superior officer.

The consequences are specific rather than nominal. An officer who overstays for any reason is liable to disciplinary action and to other adverse civil and service consequences, which include the period of unauthorised overstay not being counted as service for the purpose of pension, and any increment falling due during that period being deferred with cumulative effect until the date the officer rejoins the parent cadre. A deferment with cumulative effect follows the officer for the rest of the career, because every later increment is computed on the lower base. DoPT OM No. 6/8/2009-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 16 May 2013 requires lending organisations to monitor deputations strictly and to scrutinise requests for no objection to extension closely, to curb extensions on extraneous grounds and overstay.

Reversion can also come early. Under paragraph 11, while an employee’s services are normally placed at the disposal of the parent organisation at the end of the tenure, they may be returned before that where a situation for premature reversion arises, after a notice of at least three months to both the lending organisation and the employee concerned. Any relaxation of the terms and conditions in the guidelines requires the prior concurrence of the Department of Personnel and Training under paragraph 13.

Lien and seniority

The deputationist keeps two things that a resignation would surrender. The first is the lien on the parent post: the employee’s services are placed at the disposal of the parent department at the end of the tenure and the employee reverts to the parent post, so the lien runs unbroken throughout the deputation.

The second is seniority, and the mechanism is paragraph 7.5. Where the employee has opted for parent-cadre pay plus the deputation (duty) allowance, increments are drawn in the parent cadre in the ordinary way. Where the employee has opted for the pay of the deputation post, notional increments continue to accrue in the post held on a regular basis in the parent cadre, for the purpose of regulating pay on repatriation at the end of the tenure. Under either option the parent-cadre pay position is maintained as though the officer had never left, so seniority is not prejudiced by the absence. The one gap in that protection is the ad-hoc promotion case in Note 2 under paragraph 5, where no stepping up is admissible on reversion.

Deputation, absorption and re-employment

Three arrangements are easily confused, and only the first is a deputation. A deputation is temporary: the employee holds a lien on the parent post, draws the deputation terms, and reverts at the end of the tenure fixed by paragraph 8.1.

A permanent absorption is the opposite. The employee surrenders the lien on the parent post and becomes a regular employee of the borrowing organisation, so the deputation terms and the return to the parent cadre both fall away and pension is settled on the terms of absorption. Paragraph 3.2(b) of the 28 March 2024 consolidation puts a permanent appointment made by transfer or absorption outside the deputation guidelines entirely. Foreign service to a public sector undertaking or autonomous body is itself permitted only in relaxation of appointment on an immediate absorption basis, under the application clause at paragraph 2.

Re-employment is different again. It is the fresh engagement of a person after retirement, on terms that adjust the re-employment pay against the pension drawn, and it is not a deputation at all; pay fixation on re-employment is governed by its own rules. The practical significance across all three is the lien. A deputationist keeps the option to go home; an absorbee has given it up; a re-employed pensioner never had one. The technical resignation route, by contrast, protects past service for pay and pension when an employee moves between government posts through a fresh selection rather than on deputation.

The Central Staffing Scheme

Not every senior posting at the Centre runs on the general deputation terms, and the largest exception is set out in paragraph 3(a) of the 28 March 2024 consolidation. The Central Staffing Scheme provides a systematic arrangement for the selection and appointment of officers to senior administrative posts at the Centre, excluding posts specifically encadred within the organised Group A services and posts filled by recruitment through the Union Public Service Commission. It is handled in the Office of the Establishment Officer in the Department of Personnel and Training, and the instructions governing it were consolidated by DoPT OM No. DOPT-1705650752584 dated 19 January 2024.

Paragraph 2.2(b) puts officers appointed on deputation to posts under the Central Staffing Scheme outside the consolidated guidelines, so the separate orders issued for the scheme continue to apply to them. The tenure of appointments in several of the non-Central Staffing Scheme categories, including posts in statutory bodies, central public sector undertakings and constitutional bodies, is nonetheless fixed by reference to the Central Staffing Scheme tenure, which is why the scheme sets the ceiling for a wider group of postings than the officers it directly covers.

Related Articles

• Pay protection
• Charge allowance and current duty
• FR 35 officiating pay limit
• Personal pay
• Pay fixation on re-employment
• Joining time
• Last Pay Certificate
• Deputation (duty) allowance
• Foreign service
• Central Staffing Scheme
• Tenure allowance
• Proforma promotion
• Next Below Rule
• Non-functional selection grade
• Non-functional upgradation
• Military Service Pay
• Stepping up of pay
• Technical resignation
• Vigilance clearance
• Lien
• Seniority
• Qualifying service
• Pay fixation
• Pay fixation on promotion
• Central government pension
• General Provident Fund
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Old Pension Scheme
• Gratuity for central government employees
• Leave encashment
• CCS Leave Rules
• Allowances for central government employees
• Travelling allowance (TA)
• Children education allowance
• Hostel subsidy
• Dress allowance
• Dearness allowance
• House rent allowance
• Non-practising allowance
• Modified Assured Career Progression
• Pay matrix
• Basic pay
• Cabinet Secretary
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Central Secretariat Service
• All India Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016
• Department of Personnel and Training
• Department of Expenditure
• Central government employees in India
• Take-home salary for central government employees

External references

• Department of Personnel and Training
• DoPT establishment (Pay) division orders
• Department of Expenditure
• 7th Central Pay Commission report
• Department of Public Enterprises
• Union Public Service Commission

References

1. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. DOPT-1711629234974 dated 28 March 2024, consolidated guidelines on deputation and foreign service for central government employees (the governing instrument: paragraph 3 categories, paragraph 4 option, paragraph 5 pay fixation, paragraph 6 deputation (duty) allowance, paragraph 8 tenure, paragraph 9 cooling-off and eligibility, paragraph 11 premature reversion, paragraph 12 overstay, paragraph 14 dates of effect).
2. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 6/8/2009-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 17 June 2010, the earlier consolidated guidelines, now absorbed into the 2024 consolidation; and Office Memorandum No. AB-14017/2/07-Estt.(RR) dated 29 February 2008.
3. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 2/11/2017-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 24 November 2017 (deputation (duty) allowance at 5% and 10%, ceilings Rs. 4,500 and Rs. 9,000 with effect from 1 July 2017, apex cap Rs. 2,25,000 and Rs. 2,37,500), and of the same number dated 15 March 2021 (allowance where parent pay is upgraded on account of NFU, MACP or NFSG).
4. Report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, paragraphs 8.5.1 to 8.5.7 (allowances related to deputation; ceilings raised by a factor of 2.25 and to rise by 25% each time dearness allowance increases by 50%).
5. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1/2024-E.II(B) dated 12 March 2024 (dearness allowance at 50% from 1 January 2024) and Department of Expenditure I.D. No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 20 March 2024 (no separate order required for the consequent increase in allowances).
6. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 2/6/2018-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 18 May 2018 (tenure and extension to the 6th and 7th year); Office Memorandum No. 2/6/2016-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 23 February 2017 (allowance admissible only up to the fifth year) and dated 17 February 2016 (delegation of powers to extend tenure).
7. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 2/1/2012-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 4 January 2013 (mandatory cooling-off period and sponsoring of names) and Office Memorandum No. 2/15/2017-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 18 October 2018 (eligibility after 9, 7 and 6 years of service).
8. Fundamental Rules, Chapter XII (Foreign Service): FR 9(7) (definition), FR 115 (contribution for pension and leave), FR 116 (rates), FR 117 (basis of the rates), FR 121 (no pension or gratuity from the foreign employer), FR 124 (foreign service pay not counted on pay fixation) and FR 125 (return from foreign service).
9. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 2/10/2018-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 2 March 2021 (pay fixation under the 7th CPC pay structure), No. 2/9/2018-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 12 April 2021 (restriction on dissimilar pay structures), No. 6/8/2009-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 15 February 2012 (contributions), dated 1 March 2011 (overstay) and dated 16 May 2013 (monitoring).
10. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 6/8/2023-Pers.Policy (Deputation/Re-employment) Pt.XV dated 15 March 2024, as modified on 13 August 2024 and 18 September 2024 (Group A officers to state and union territory ex-cadre posts) and of the same number dated 30 August 2024 (Group B officers); and Office Memorandum No. DOPT-1705650752584 dated 19 January 2024 (Central Staffing Scheme).