The government has framed strict service rules for officers to be appointed on the personal staff of Union Ministers, putting a tenure cap of 10 years. However, the Prime Minister's Office has been exempted from the new provisions.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) decided to prescribe a total ceiling of 10 years, beyond which an officer may not be permitted to continue on the personal staff of Ministers, irrespective of the level.
“Various departments/services recruit officers to man their organisations and it is not in the interest of the cadre management of an organisation to let its officers be out of their cadres for prolonged periods of time,” the ACC said.
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Further, an officer's tenure as Private Secretary or OSD to the Minister should be limited to five years within the overall limit, it said, adding no relaxation to the rules would be allowed.
Every time an appointment on the personal staff was made, the cadre authorities might check whether the officer had worked on the personal staff of a Minister earlier and if so, his total tenure be should be restricted to 10 years in his entire career, it said.