A) Central Staffing Scheme is a provision to man posts in the Ministries/Departments of the Govt. of India at DS/Director and above levels. It draws officers from all the State Governments and participating Group-A services. Each year the Establishment Officer, Department of Personnel & Training issues a circular to all the Chief Secretaries of the State Governments and the Secretaries of Ministries which are cadre controlling authorities of the participating Group-A services, requesting them to send names of suitable and willing officers for the Central Staffing Scheme. Among the names so sponsored, an ‘offer list’ of names of officers is prepared each year. Appointments to vacancies filled under the Central Staffing Scheme are made from this ‘offer list’.

A) If you belong to any of the services participating in the Central Staffing Scheme, you are eligible..

A) The minimum service requirement is 9 years as on the 1st of July of that year.

A) You will have to fill an online application form available on the Department of Personnel & Training’s website www.persmin.nic.in. Click on the link online services in the left-hand corner and then click on Central Staffing Scheme. For IAS officers, the intra-ias user name and password would be required. If you don’t remember the user name and password send an e-mail to persinfotech@nic.in requesting for your user name and password. Your application has to be forwarded ‘online’ to the DOP&T by the designated Nodal Officer in respect of your Cadre Controlling Authority along with your CR Dossier for consideration of DOP&T.

A) Officers are normally considered only for those stations for which they have applied subject availability of vacancies for the particular station. It may be noted that most of the vacancies filled under the Central Staffing Scheme are located at Delhi.

A) The tenure is 4 years at Deputy Secretary level and 5 years for Director and Joint Secretary levels.

A) The approving authority for appointments under the Central Staffing Scheme is the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. However, the ACC has delegated the powers for issuing appointment orders in respect of Deputy Secretary/Director rank officers to the Establishment Officer after obtaining recommendations of the Civil Services Board and approval of the Minister in-Charge of the concerned Ministry.

A) The Civil Services Board comprises the Cabinet Secretary, Secretary (Personnel) and the Establishment Officer among others. It meets at regular intervals (presently fortnightly) to discuss the names of officers in the panels provided by the Establishment Officer for being considered for posting to various Departments/Ministries. The Secretary of the concerned Ministry/Department where the vacancy is to be filled up is also invited.

A) No, names can be considered for Central Staffing Scheme only when they are duly sponsored by the cadre controlling authority.

A) If an officer after appointment under Central Staffing Scheme does not join, or the State Govt./cadre controlling authority refuses to relieve him, he is debarred from coming on deputation under the Central Staffing Scheme for a period of five years. He is also debarred from being given cadre clearance for going on foreign assignments.

A) There is a provision of mandatory cooling off period of three years between two stints of deputation for DS/Director and JS level officers. The officers are required to work in their cadre during this period of ‘Cooling off’. For officers belonging to the North-East and J&K cadres, the cooling off period is two years.

A) On getting promotion to the next level of grade pay, officers are allowed to take premature repatriation to avail of the benefit of promotion. The provision of extended cooling off is not applicable in such cases. For this, a proposal has to be sent to the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) by the concerned Ministry with the approval of the Minister in-charge along with a copy of the promotion order.

A) If an officer under the Central Staffing Scheme wishes to seek repatriation to his cadre on personal grounds and for reasons not provided in the Central Staffing Scheme, he/she is liable to undergo a period of extended cooling off. This means that the officer’s unfinished (balance) tenure under the Central Staffing Scheme is added to the normal cooling off. In other words the normal ‘cooling off of 3 years begins only from the day, the officer would have completed his tenure under Central Staffing Scheme in the normal course.

A) The Cadre controlling authority may request for withdrawal of the name of an officer from the offer list. The officer is not liable to be debarred if the request is received before the officer’s name is placed before the Civil Services Board. If the request for withdrawal is received after the CSB meeting, the officer is liable to be debarred.

A) An officer under Central Staffing Scheme can avail leave up to a maximum of 60 days after his tenure is over. This is debited from his eared leave account. The leave is sanctioned by the Ministry where he is working under the Central Staffing Scheme. On expiry of the leave, the officer is automatically reverted to his parent cadre.