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Tenure Allowance

The Central Secretariat (Deputation on Tenure) Allowance: 10% of basic pay up to Rs. 9,000 for AIS and Group A officers on a Central Staffing Scheme tenure.

Updated 22 September 2026

The Tenure Allowance, in the orders the Central Secretariat (Deputation on Tenure) Allowance or CDTA, is an allowance paid to an officer of the All India Services or an organised Group A central service who is posted to the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme on a fixed tenure, as Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary or Director. Under Department of Personnel and Training OM No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay II) dated 24 April 2018 it is 10% of basic pay subject to a ceiling of Rs. 9,000, from 1 July 2017. It is the Central Staffing Scheme counterpart of the Deputation (Duty) Allowance, and an officer draws one or the other for a posting, not both.

The allowance belongs to the machinery by which the Government of India staffs its senior secretariat posts. Under the Central Staffing Scheme, officers of the All India Services and the organised Group A services are brought to the Centre for a tenure, to bring field experience into policy-making and to broaden the officers themselves, after which they revert to their parent cadres. The Tenure Allowance is the money attached to that arrangement for the officers who come in at the Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Director levels.

This article explains what the allowance is, the Central Staffing Scheme context that gives rise to it, who draws it and at which levels, the rate of 10% of basic pay and the ceiling that caps it, how it relates to and differs from the Deputation (Duty) Allowance, where the loosely-used term “headquarters allowance” fits, and the tax position. It is a child of the allowances hub and is best read alongside the deputation for central government employees article.

The Central Staffing Scheme context

The Central Staffing Scheme is the arrangement under which the Government of India fills a large number of its middle and senior secretariat posts by drawing officers from the organised services on a tenure basis. An officer of an organised Group A service, having served in the field and in their own cadre, is empanelled and appointed to a post at the Centre, typically as an Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary or Director, for a fixed number of years, and then returns to the parent cadre. The scheme is administered by the Department of Personnel and Training, which acts as the central personnel agency.

The purpose is twofold. It gives the secretariat officers with direct experience of implementation, so that policy is informed by the field, and it gives the officers themselves exposure to policy-making at the Centre before they return to senior roles in their cadres. Because the posting is a tenure and not a permanent placement, and because the officer serves away from the parent cadre for its duration, it carries the same kind of cost and disruption that any deputation does, and the Tenure Allowance is the recognition of that.

Who draws it

The Tenure Allowance is drawn by officers of the All India Services and the organised Group A central services who hold posts under the Central Staffing Scheme at the Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Director levels at the Centre, on a tenure basis. Paragraph 1 of the 24 April 2018 OM names both groups, so an Indian Administrative Service or Indian Police Service officer at those levels qualifies; the earlier DoPT OM No. 2/8/97-Estt.(Pay II) dated 11 March 1998 had confined it to Group A officers. Clause 1(e) denies it at Joint Secretary and above, and clause 1(f) to an officer on extension or re-employment after superannuation. It is specific to that arrangement. It is not a general allowance for every officer who happens to work at the Centre, and gazetted status alone does not qualify an officer for it; the qualification is holding one of these tenure posts under the scheme.

The distinction matters because the Centre is staffed in several ways. Some posts are filled by the Central Secretariat Service cadre itself, whose officers are permanent secretariat staff and not on tenure from an outside cadre. Others are filled by officers on ordinary deputation to ex-cadre posts. The Tenure Allowance is for the particular category of All India Services and organised-service officers brought in under the Central Staffing Scheme for a tenure, which is why it is called a tenure allowance rather than a deputation or a secretariat allowance.

The rate and the ceiling

The Tenure Allowance is 10% of the officer’s basic pay, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 9,000 a month, under clause 1(c) of DoPT OM No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay II) dated 24 April 2018, with effect from 1 July 2017. Clause 1(g) defines basic pay as the pay in the level of the pay matrix of the post held substantively in the parent cadre, excluding personal pay and any other type of pay. Clause 1(h) ignores an upgrade in the parent cadre through proforma promotion or non-functional upgradation. At 10%, the Rs. 9,000 ceiling binds from a basic pay of Rs. 90,000: for every Director, since Level 13 opens at Rs. 1,23,100, and for a Level 12 Deputy Secretary from the cell of Rs. 91,400 upward.

The ceiling has an escalator. An OM of the same number dated 4 June 2025, issued with Department of Expenditure concurrence under ID note No. 916/2024-E.II(B) dated 29 April 2025, provides that the ceiling “will further rise by 25 percent each time Dearness Allowance increases by 50 percent”. It states no rupee figure and no date of effect. Dearness allowance reached 50% of basic pay from 1 January 2024, so the arithmetic gives Rs. 11,250, the figure the 28 March 2024 deputation consolidation fixed for the change-of-station Deputation (Duty) Allowance from that date.

The rate history runs through four DoPT orders: a fixed Rs. 800 for Under Secretary and Rs. 1,000 for Deputy Secretary and Director from 1 August 1997 under the OM of 11 March 1998; the 6th CPC order, OM No. 2/22(A)/2008-Estt.(Pay II) dated 3 September 2008; OM No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay II) dated 7 December 2017, which suspended payment after 1 July 2017 pending a fresh order; and the 24 April 2018 order that superseded both. Clause 1(i) of the 2018 order gives an officer upgraded to Level 14 in the cadre during deputation the choice between Rule 12 personal pay under the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 without CDTA, and the earlier pay with CDTA.

How it relates to the Deputation (Duty) Allowance

The Tenure Allowance is best understood next to the Deputation (Duty) Allowance, because the two are close relatives that apply to different situations. Both compensate an officer for serving away from the parent cadre, and both are a percentage of basic pay subject to a ceiling. The difference lies in the nature of the posting.

The Deputation (Duty) Allowance applies to an ordinary deputation to an ex-cadre post, and its rate turns on the change of station: 5% of basic pay for a deputation within the same station, subject to a ceiling, and 10% for one involving a change of station, subject to a higher ceiling. It also carries the important option between the allowance and the pay of the deputation post. The Tenure Allowance, by contrast, is the counterpart for an officer on a Central Staffing Scheme tenure at the Centre, at a flat 10% of basic pay subject to a ceiling, tied to the tenure posting rather than to a change of station.

The key point is that the two are not drawn together for the same posting. Where the Tenure Allowance applies, it takes the place of the Deputation (Duty) Allowance rather than being added to it, and which one applies depends on the nature of the posting under the governing rules. An officer on a CSS tenure draws the Tenure Allowance; an officer on an ordinary ex-cadre deputation draws the Deputation (Duty) Allowance. The deputation for central government employees article covers the wider system within which both sit.

The tenure, and reversion to the cadre

The tenure is central to the allowance, as its name says. An officer comes to the Centre under the scheme for a fixed period, serves the tenure, and then reverts to the parent cadre, where their seniority and career progression continue. While on the tenure the officer remains a member of the parent cadre, and the same protective devices that apply to a deputationist, such as the proforma promotion under the Next Below Rule so that the officer is not disadvantaged by being away when juniors are promoted, apply to the officer on a Central Staffing Scheme tenure as well.

Because the posting is time-bound, the Tenure Allowance is drawn for the duration of the tenure and stops on reversion. It is not a permanent addition to the officer’s pay but a compensation for the period at the Centre, which is consistent with its being tied to the tenure post rather than to the officer’s substantive grade in the parent cadre.

Where “headquarters allowance” fits

The term “headquarters allowance” is sometimes used loosely for the compensation of an officer posted to a headquarters organisation, and it is worth being clear that it is not a separate, distinct allowance with its own rate. An officer posted to a headquarters organisation is being compensated through one of the established allowances: the Deputation (Duty) Allowance where the posting is an ordinary deputation to an ex-cadre post at the headquarters of another organisation, or the Tenure Allowance where the posting is a Central Staffing Scheme tenure at the Centre. The headquarters allowance reference collects this together; the substantive payments are the two allowances described here and in the deputation article, applied according to the nature of the posting.

This is a common feature of the allowances vocabulary, where an informal or descriptive term is used for what is, in the rules, one of a small number of defined allowances. The safe course is to identify the actual posting, an ordinary deputation or a Central Staffing Scheme tenure, and then apply the correct allowance and its rate and ceiling, rather than to look for a distinct “headquarters allowance” with figures of its own.

The tax position

The Tenure Allowance is part of salary income and is fully taxable in the ordinary way. There is no specific exemption for it: the prescribed-allowance exemptions at serials 12 and 13 of the Table in Schedule III to the Income-tax Act, 2025 run to defined field, travel, uniform and duty allowances, and none of the fifteen entries in the Table in rule 280(2) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 covers a tenure or deputation-type allowance. It is therefore added to gross salary and taxed at the applicable slab under the old and the default regimes alike, with tax deducted at source, and Section 202(2)(a)(ii) in any case computes default-regime income without those exemptions.

Because the officers who draw it are at the Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Director levels, the allowance sits on a substantial basic pay, so the rupee amount is more significant than that of the small fixed allowances, and it is a real part of the taxable salary for the tenure. For how allowances feed into the computation and the choice of regime, see income tax for government employees and old versus new tax regime.

The 8th CPC outlook

The Tenure Allowance is a long-standing feature of the Central Staffing Scheme, retained through successive pay commissions at 10% of basic pay with a ceiling, and it answers a continuing need, since the Centre will continue to draw officers from the organised services on tenure. Whether the 8th Central Pay Commission revises the ceiling, changes the 10% rate, or restructures the way tenure postings are compensated is not known, and no post-8th-CPC figure can be stated as fact until that commission reports and its recommendations are accepted. Until then the position is 10% of basic pay, subject to the Rs. 9,000 ceiling and its 25% escalator, for an All India Services or organised Group A officer on a Central Staffing Scheme tenure at the Centre.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the Tenure Allowance?
It is the Central Secretariat (Deputation on Tenure) Allowance, or CDTA, paid to an officer of the All India Services or an organised Group A central service who is posted to the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme as Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary or Director and opts to draw parent-cadre basic pay plus the allowance. Under DoPT OM No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay II) dated 24 April 2018 it is 10% of basic pay subject to a ceiling of Rs. 9,000, from 1 July 2017.
How much is the Tenure Allowance?
It is 10% of basic pay, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 9,000 a month under clause 1(c) of DoPT OM No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay II) dated 24 April 2018. Basic pay means pay in the level of the post held substantively in the parent cadre, excluding personal pay. An OM of the same number dated 4 June 2025 made the ceiling rise by 25% each time dearness allowance rises by 50%; it states no rupee figure, and on dearness allowance of 50% from 1 January 2024 the arithmetic gives Rs. 11,250.
Who is eligible for the Tenure Allowance?
Officers of the All India Services and the organised Group A central services posted as Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary or Director under the Central Staffing Scheme. Clause 1(e) of the 24 April 2018 OM denies it at Joint Secretary and above, and clause 1(f) denies it to an officer on extension or re-employment after superannuation. The earlier order, DoPT OM No. 2/8/97-Estt.(Pay II) dated 11 March 1998, was confined to Group A officers; the 2018 order extended it to the All India Services.
How is the Tenure Allowance different from the Deputation (Duty) Allowance?
Both compensate service away from the parent cadre, but they apply to different situations. The Deputation (Duty) Allowance applies to an ordinary deputation to an ex-cadre post, at 5% or 10% of basic pay depending on the change of station, subject to its own ceilings. The Tenure Allowance is the counterpart for an officer on a Central Staffing Scheme tenure at the Centre, at 10% of basic pay subject to a ceiling. An officer draws one or the other for a given posting, not both.
Is the Tenure Allowance drawn with the deputation allowance?
No. The two are not drawn together for the same posting. The Tenure Allowance is the compensation for a Central Staffing Scheme tenure posting, and where it applies it takes the place of the Deputation (Duty) Allowance rather than being added to it. Which one applies depends on the nature of the posting under the governing rules.
Is the Tenure Allowance taxable?
Yes. It is part of salary income and is fully taxable at the applicable slab rate, with tax deducted at source. No provision of the Income-tax Act exempts it, so it is added to gross salary like any other taxable allowance, under both the old and the new tax regimes.

External references

References

  1. Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay II) dated 24 April 2018, revision of the rates of Central Secretariat (Deputation on Tenure) Allowance, paragraphs 1(a) to 1(i) and 2.
  2. Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. 2/10/2017-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 4 June 2025, escalation of the CDTA ceiling, with Department of Expenditure ID note No. 916/2024-E.II(B) dated 29 April 2025.
  3. Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. 2/8/97-Estt.(Pay II) dated 11 March 1998; Office Memorandum No. 2/22(A)/2008-Estt.(Pay II) dated 3 September 2008; Office Memorandum No. 36/77/94-EO(SM-I) dated 5 January 1996 (Central Staffing Scheme).
  4. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum on Deputation (Duty) Allowance dated 24 November 2017 (for the related deputation framework and ceilings).
  5. Income-tax Act, 2025, Schedule III, Table serials 12 and 13, and Section 202(2)(a)(ii), read with rule 280 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026: the taxability of allowances outside the prescribed exemptions.