New rules for officers in personal staff of ministers

Government has framed strict service rules for officers to be appointed as personal staff of Union Ministers, putting a tenure cap of ten years.

Government has framed strict service rules for officers to be appointed as personal staff of Union Ministers, putting a tenure cap of ten years.

HT Image

However, the Prime Minister's Office has been exempted from the new rules.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) decided early this month a total ceiling of ten years for an officer for appointment as personal staff of ministers, irrespective of the level.

"Various departments/services recruit officers to man their respective organisations and it is not in the interest of the cadre management of an organisation to let its officers be out of their cadres for prolonged periods," the ACC said.

Further, his tenure as Private Secretary or OSD to the minister should be limited to five years within the overall limit, it said adding no relaxation to the rules would be allowed.

Every time an appointment in the personal staff was made, the cadre authorities may check whether the officer has worked in the personal staff of a minister earlier and if so, his total tenure be restricted to not more than ten years in his entire career, it said.

The ACC said the issue of officers working in the personal staff of ministers for long periods has been engaging the attention of the Government for quite some time.