 |
| CSS delegation with minister Jitendra Singh |
IT'S a story of a civil servants club across the border. Punjab Civil Officers Mess (PCOM) located at Lahore in Pakistan has been in news recently for denying membership to all provincial officers as the recreational hub was now positioned only for District Management Group (DMG) and Central Superior Services (CSS. In Indian context, it's like a story of forming a club exclusively for IAS with no entry sign for state civil servants officers.
In fact, about 1,600 provincial cadre officers including those from the Provincial Civil Services (PCS), Provincial Secretariat Services (PSS) and the Provincial Management Services (PMS) of Pakistan were refused membership to the club having recreational, sporting and boarding facilities, a report in Daily Times said. New rules were introduced only recently to convert the club only for high ranked officers.
Significantly, Central Superior Services of Pakistan, or CSS, is the highly prestigious and powerful Pakistani federal government department officers. About 100-150 officers are recruited every year in that elite service out of 8000 to 10,000 applicants. The CSS includes Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service, Police Service of Pakistan, District Management Group, Income Tax Group (ITG), Customs and Excise Group (CEG), Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP), Postal Group (PG), Commerce & Trade Group (CTG), Railways Group (RG), Information Group (IG), Military Lands and cantonment Group (MLCG) and Officer Management Group (OMG).
Though civil services of Pakistan like that of India are based on the British system, Musharraf government first initiated major administrative reforms. National Commission of Government Reforms (NCGR) under the chairmanship of Dr Ishrat Hussain, the former governor of State Bank of Pakistan, recommended in September 2007 that four CSS cadres --- Pakistan Railway Service, Pakistan Postal Service, Commerce and Trade Group, and the Information Service of Pakistan, should be axed. The recommendation wanted Postal and Railway Service to be made autonomous commercial bodies.
Action & Appointments
a) Sumanta Chaudhari, a 1985 batch West Bengal cadre IAS has been appointed against a newly created post of joint secretary in the Department of Commerce for a period of five years or until further orders.
b) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the department of atomic energy for central deputation tenure of Dr P Mukherjee, a 1980 batch IA&AS for a period of six months up to June 9, 2010 or until further orders.
c) Justice Bilal Nazki, Judge of the Bombay High Court, will be the new Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.
d) Lt Gen AK Singh becomes the GOC of the Strike Corps on the Western Front.
"How are u sir? Would like 2 meet u 2morrow for a personal cos. Any time pliz"
If you are a Central Secretariat Service (CSS) official getting ready to send this SMS to secretary (personnel) or a joint secretary directly, think twice. The department of personnel and training (DoPT) in a recent office memo warned officers not to address any letter or communications directly to DoPT secretary or joint secretaries of the ministry as it violates provisions of the Central Civil Services (CCS) Conduct Rules 1964. What's more, such conduct may attract disciplinary proceedings, the memo warned.
The memo was issued after a large number of representations addressed directly to DoPT secretary and joint secretaries by officers of different cadres on issues related to the CSS were received in the recent past. "All cadre units participating in CSS are requested to bring contents of the OM (Office Memorandum) to the notice of all the officials working in their organisations that in future they should invariably route all correspondence to DoPT only through the proper channel and send the same to the concerned dealing officer in the CS Division in the first instance," instructions said. The memo was sent to all cadres participating in CSS.
Shantanu Consul, a 1974 batch Karnataka cadre IAS, is now the DoPT secretary replacing his batchmate Rahul Sarin.
Significantly, additional secretary P K Mishra is known to give time to random visitors, mostly officials, between 3 pm to 5 pm every working day --- a practice which is highly appreciated and much talked among officials of all ranks. Former DoPT secretary Satyananda Mishra, who is now a Central Information Commissioner, too was quite liberal in sparing some time for officers who visited North Block in matters relating to postings.
DoPT Office Memo (October 28, 2009)
CALL it following the IAS brigade. The executive record sheets of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officers will now be done in the same format as it's recorded in case of IAS officers. In an office memorandum of the department of personnel and training (DoPT), tagged as "important, immediate and timebound" the CSS officicers who have not submitted their data in the new format are now requested to send hard copies of their details in a prescribed format.
Once the new ER Sheets are finalised, spotting a CSS officer's career through online medium would be possible. ER section of the CS division will handle the new database.
Significantly, the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) is one of the earliest organized services in the country. It's traced back to 1919 when the Imperial Secretariat Service came into being as one of the off-shoots of the Lewllyn-Smith Committee which had been set up on the eve of the introduction of the Montague Chelmsford Reforms. CSS cadre officers are working at the level of assistant, section officer, under secretary, deputy secretary, director and joint secretary or additional secretary under Central Staffing Scheme of government of India.
Read: OFFICE MEMORANDUM
DATA ENTRY FORM