(b) MOS holding additional charge

A Minister of State holding additional charge of another Ministry or a separate independent Department under another Ministry will be entitled to one additional post of Special P.S. (Rs. 3700-5000) if the same is required by the Minister. This will not be admissible to a Minister of State holding charge of more than one Department within the same Ministry.

(vide O.M.No. 8/5/85-CS.II dated 6.8.91).

However, it has been decided to keep in abeyance the provision of admissibility of Special P.S.

(vide O.M.No. 8/5/85-CS.II dated 8.12.92).

(c) Minister holding additional charge temporarily:-

When a Minister is given, temporarily additional charge of a portfolio held earlier by another Minister who has quit the Council of Ministers by resignation or otherwise, he is entitled to a separate set of personal staff for the additional charge to the extent indicated below for the duration he holds the additional charge:-

(O.M.No. 8/6/86-CS.II dated 4.6.87)

(d) Deputy Minister holding additional charge:-

When a Deputy Minister is given charge of another Ministry/Department in addition to his original charge due to any reason, and is required to function from two different locations, he is entitled to have the following staff in addition to the normal entitlement as mentioned in para 3 above :-

Personal Assistant (Rs. 1640-2900) 1

Peon (Rs. 750-940) 1

(O.M.No. 8/17/88-CS.II dated 30.5.89 read with O.M. dated 7.6.89)

5. Level of the Post of Private Secretary

All members of the Council of Ministers are entitled to have Private Secretaries of the same rank, i.e. Deputy Secretary (Rs. 3700-5000)/ Director (Rs. 4500-5700).

(O.M.No. 8/10/89-CS.II dated 3.8.90)

6.1 The posts beyond the prescribed scale of personal staff Admissible to Ministers, etc. cannot be created except after obtaining prior approval of the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Personnel.

(O.M.No. 8/7/85-CS.II dated 28.5.85)

6.2 Proposals for creation of additional posts on the personal staff of Ministers are considered in the Ministry of Finance and Department of Personnel & Training subject to matching savings being made available from within the entitlement of personal staff of the concerned Minister, by surrendering some posts admissible. However, the post of Private Secretary cannot be allowed to be surrendered for providing matching savings. Ministries/Departments should also ensure that, as far as possible, the lower level posts including the posts meant for stenographers service are not surrendered for providing matching savings for creation of additional posts in excess of the entitlement.

(O.M.No. 8/5/85-CS-II dated 6.8.91).

6.3 Upgradation of posts in the personal staff of Ministers to higher scales of pay with a view to regularise the appointment of officials drawing pay in higher pay scales against posts carrying lower pay scale should not be resorted to. Upgradation of posts amounts to creation of new posts in lieu of the existing posts on the personal staff and as such it can be done only after obtaining prior approval of the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Personnel & Training.

(O.M.No. 8/11/85-CS.II dated 18/20.12.85)

7. Tenure of Private Secretaries and other conditions of their appointment

Ministers have discretion in the matter of selection of persons - serving officers or outsiders-for appointment in their personal staff and such appointment will be co-terminus with the office of the Ministers. However, the policy laid down in regard to the tenure of Private Secretary is as follows :-

1. Appointments to the post of Private Secretary to Ministers, Ministers of State, and Deputy Ministers should not be above the rank of Director in the Govt. of India (Scale of pay Rs. 4500-5700). The question as to what scale of pay should be allowed to an officer -would be decided keeping in view his eligibility for Central deputation in the rank of Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary or Director, as the case may be.

2. A Private Secretary's tenure would be three years or until he ceases to be a Private Secretary, whichever is earlier.
3. On completion of his term as Private Secretary, an officer would be entitled to continue, unless there are other reasons for his not being so appointed, at the appropriate level in the Ministry, for the balance period of the normal tenure of the Central deputation. In this respect, no distinction would be made between officers picked from the 'offer list' prepared by the Establishment Officer or directly from the cadre. Appointment at the appropriate level will be subject to availability of vacancy and approval by the competent authority in each case.
4. An officer appointed as a Private Secretary in relaxation of the normal 'cooling off' rules, where such relaxation exceeded period of six months; would be entitled to hold office for a maximum period of three years or till he ceases to hold the post of Private Secretary, whichever is earlier, and he would not be entitled to any further tenure.
5. Officers of the Central Secretariat Service appointed as Private Secretaries to Ministers would be exempted from the rule of rotation of CSS officers on promotion in the event of their being promoted while serving as Private Secretaries. On their ceasing to hold the post of Private Secretary, they would, however, have to move to a Department other than the one in which they had gained experience as a Deputy Secretary.

(O.M.No. 31/22/90-EO (MM) dated 13.8.90).

8. While the scale of personal staff admissible to a Minister holding charge of more than one Ministry/Department is regulated by the instructions mentioned above, there is no objection to some of the posts being created in one Department and the remaining in other Department under the charge of the concerned Minister. The concerned Ministries/Departments should also ensure that as far as possible 'included posts' of lst P.A., APS, and the lInd PA. are created in different Departments under the charge of the Minister in equitable proportion.

(O.M.No. 10/53/77-CS.II dated 3.2.78) and

(O.M.No. 15/2/78-CS.II dated 20.5.78)

9. The Staff Car Drive may be provided to Ministers from the strength of the Ministry/Department concerned. Appointment of Driver from outside for the official car of the Minister may be avoided.

(O.M.No. 13/19/83-CS.II dated 2.12.83)

10. Demitting of Office by Minister and Continuance of Personal staff to Wind up the Office

All the members on the personal staff of outgoing Minister may continue to hold their posts for a period not exceeding 15 days so as to enable the Ministries/Departments to make arrangements for their repatriation, etc. Thereafter, only two members on the personal staff of the outgoing Minister should be allowed to continue for another 15 days, if required by the outgoing Minister to wind up his office.

(O.M.No. 10/20/79-CS.II dated 2.8.79)

Relevant instructions for verification of character and antecedents of persons to be appointed on the personal staff of Ministers, should be observed while making the appointment. Instructions on the subject have been issued by Establishment Division (Estt. B) of Department of Personnel & Training.

While no recruitment rules have been framed for the personal staff of Ministers/Dy. Ministers, it is clarified that –

1. No upper age limit need be insisted upon provided the incumbent cannot hold any post after attaining the age of 58 years;
2. Educational qualifications including typing, shorthand speed for corresponding posts, will have to be satisfied, and
3. Relaxation in (i) and (ii) above can be done only with the concurrence of the Department of Personnel & Training.

(O.M.No. 8/7/87-CS.II dated 21.1.88)

Norms laid down for entitlement of personal staff by this Department in this and other Office Memoranda are not applicable in the case of functionaries having status of a Minister but who are not members of Council of Ministers. Their entitlement depends on the actual workload, which may not be identical with those of the members of the Union Council of Ministers of the corresponding rank, who have to deal with a substantial amount of work connected with Cabinet and its committees, parliament and its committees besides discharging their Ministry's functions and public responsibilities. Therefore, the entitlement of such functionaries to the personal staff has to be determined by the concerned Ministry/Department without reference to the norms applicable in the case of members of Union Council of Ministers, on the basis of actual workload, and in consultation with the Ministry of Finance.

14. Since the object of this OM is only to give a comprehensive view of the policy/instructions on the subject, for detailed provisions on different aspects of the policy, various OMs issued from time to time may be referred to.

All the Ministries/Departments are requested to bring this to the notice of all concerned.

Hindi version will follow.