Central Secretariat Service officers association asks govt to fast track promotions

New Delhi: An association of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officers on Tuesday asked the government to take immediate necessary steps to implement the recommendations of a cadre restructuring committee in a time-bound manner and take measures to clear the long-pending promotions at the Assistant Section Officer (ASO) and Under Secretary levels.

The association said the prompt implementation of their demand would prevent further financial loss and boost their morale and motivation to continue serving the nation with full dedication to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047.

The CSS Forum appeals to the government of India to take immediate necessary steps to implement the recommendations of the fourth cadre restructuring committee (CRC), pending since 2022, in a time-bound manner — preferably within a month, said Yatindra Chandela, the general secretary of the employees' body.

"In the meantime, the government should take interim measures to clear the long-pending promotions at the ASO and Under Secretary levels by June 30, 2025, to prevent further financial loss and boost the morale and motivation of officers so that they continue serving the nation with full dedication to realise the PM's vision for Viksit Bharat by 2047," he told PTI.

As per the guidelines of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), every cadre has to be reviewed once every five years, the association said.

The third CRC, which was constituted in 2013, submitted its report in four years i.e. 2017 and its recommendations were made effective with effect from 2018 when the next cadre review was due, it said.

Due to this inordinate delay, the fourth CRC was constituted in October 2022 after four years of delay, according to a statement posted by the association on X.

The association said there has been almost 1,000 days since the constitution of the fourth CRC and its recommendations are yet to be made public.

"This inordinate delay of almost seven years in the 4th cadre review of the CSS has crippled the functioning of the Central Secretariat," the association said in the statement.

Citing a data by the DoPT, the association said the cadre reviews of 28 other services have been cleared in an average of 306 days.

Even after pursuing the matter at every level, from the DoPT to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), "when there was no movement on cadre review", the CSS officers started raising their grievances on X (formerly Twitter), the association said.

"This prompted a sudden response from the DoPT, but unfortunately not in a constructive manner. Instead of providing transparency of a clear timeline for the long-pending cadre restructure - the root cause of the current promotion logjam - the DoPT restored to self congratulatory tweets," it said.

Earlier on June 12, the DoPT in a post on X had highlighted the achievements in recruitment and promotion of the CSS officers.

"Timely reforms and efficient processes are reshaping the Central Secretariat Service. Vacancies have reduced to less than 6% of the sanctioned strength," it read.

In its response on Tuesday, the CSS Forum came out with a detailed statement responding to the DoPT's post and demanded implementation of the CRC besides promotions at the levels of the ASO and Under Secretary.