Reference is invited to this Department’s O.M.No. 8/5/98-CS.II dated 8.3.1999, 12.8.1999 and O.M.No. 8/10/2000-CS.II dated 15.12.2000, wherein following instructions have been issued for appointment of personal staff of Ministers regarding upper age limit and educational/skill qualification: -

(i) With the rise in the age of retirement of the Central Government employees, the upper age limit for engagement of personal staff of Minister is also raised from 58 to 60 years. Any proposal regarding appointments of staff on the personal staff of the Minister in relaxation of the upper age limit will require the approval of the Prime Minister through this Department.

(ii) The educational/skill qualification for personal staff of Ministers should be similar to the corresponding/comparable posts in the Government and as per directions of the Hon’ble P.M. there will be no relaxation in the educational and skill qualification for the personal staff of Ministers. As regards the skill qualification, there is no need to verify this in respect of Government Servants, if their parent post is having similar nature of duties. In other cases a certificate from a Government recognized Institute should be stressed. However, where it is not possible to obtain a certificate from a Government recognized Institute, in those cases the candidate may be tested locally for speed test at par with the corresponding posts/grades in Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service by the Ministry/Department concerned.

2. After issue of the above O.Ms, references have been received in this Ministry, seeking further clarifications regarding the course of action, required, in case the certificate from the Government recognized Institute does not mention the shorthand/typing speed. The matter has been examined and it is clarified that the appointing authorities before appointment should satisfy themselves that such certificates should clearly indicate shorthand/typing speed and that such speed should be equivalent to the prescribed skill qualification for the corresponding grade. It is further clarified that wherever the certificate from the Government recognized Institute does not specify the shorthand/typing speed the candidate should be tested locally for skill qualification by conducting speed test at par with the skill qualification, prescribed for the corresponding grades. The educational/skill qualifications of the corresponding/comparable Government – posts are enclosed in the Annexure to this O.M

Annexure to O.M.No.8/5/98-CS.II dated 23rd October, 2001

S.No.	Name of post/ Pay scale	Educational Qualification	Skill Qualification
1.	PS Rs.14300-18300/ Rs.12000-16500	Graduation from a recognized University	N.A.
2.	Additional PS Rs.10000-15200	Graduation from a recognized University	N.A.
3.	Assistant PS Rs.6500-10500	Matriculation	English Stenography speed of 100 w.p.m. for a dictation of 10 minutes and its transcription in 50 minutes Or Hindi Stenography speed of 100 w.p.m. for a dictation of 10 minutes and its transcription in 65 minutes
4.	First PA Rs.6500-10500	-do-	-do-
5.	Second PA Rs.5500-9000	-do-	-do-
6.	Hindi Stenographer Rs.5000-8000	-do-	Hindi Stenography speed of 100 w.p.m. for a dictation of 10 minutes and its transcription in 65 minutes
7.	LDC Rs.3050-4950	-do-	English Typing speed of 30 w.p.m. or Hindi Typing speed of 25 w.p.m.