The delay has implications for the career progression of CSS officers as well as the overall manpower structure and administrative capacity of the Central Secretariat. 

Questions are now being raised about the broader cadre review mechanism of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

The 4th CSS Cadre Review Committee was constituted in October 2022 and received the required inputs from Ministries and Departments in the first half of 2023. But its report is yet to be released. 

The delay has now gone well beyond the normal administrative process, according to the CSS Forum, a body representing Central government officers in various Ministries and Departments. 

“A timely cadre review is not merely about the career progression of CSS officers. It will strengthen the capacity, efficiency and effectiveness of the Central Secretariat and, in turn, make the functioning of the government’s administrative machinery more effective,” Dev Gupta, President of the CSS Forum, told The Secretariat.

He pointed out that the previous three CSS cadre reviews were completed in just 12, 5, and 8 months respectively, but the current review had faced an exceptionally long delay. 

New Formula For Cadre Review

Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), had stated in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 23 July: “The cadre review and restructuring is a continuous process.”

Singh had stated that the sanctioned strength was reviewed based on proposals submitted by the cadre controlling authorities in accordance with the Cadre Review Guidelines.

Manpower assessment takes into account factors such as automation, information and communication technology (ICT), business process re-engineering, organisational mandate, and deputation requirements.

Secretariat’s Backbone

CSS is not merely another government service. It provides critical manpower for the day-to-day administrative functioning of Central Government Ministries and Departments. 

According to the DoPT Annual Report, the CS-I Division is responsible for the overall cadre management of the CSS. Its responsibilities include recruitment, promotions, postings, transfers, training, approval for deputation, amendments to CSS Rules, and meeting the CSS manpower requirements of various Ministries and Departments.

In simple terms, the CSS Cadre Review is not merely about deciding how many posts should exist or who should get promoted. It can determine how many personnel are required in the Central Secretariat, how responsibilities should be distributed, and how much manpower will be needed to meet future administrative requirements. 

Why The Delay

“We are not aware of the reasons for the delay, as the entire process has remained completely opaque to the cadre. What we can say with certainty is that there is no clear explanation for the delay, nor can it be justified,” Gupta said.

According to DoPT’s own data on 28 cadre reviews approved in recent years, the average time taken for approval is around 306 days. “In contrast, the CSS Cadre Review has remained pending for four years beyond its due date. Reforms cannot be selective. The cadre that helps implement reforms across the government cannot itself remain unreformed,” he said.

Gupta said the delay had severely affected promotions and career progression. “The shortage of posts has resulted in acute stagnation across all grades. The wait for the first promotion from Assistant Section Officer to Section Officer has now exceeded 12 years. Despite a prescribed residency period of five years, Under Secretaries are also waiting for promotion even after 12 years. Many officers are retiring without promotion despite having become eligible years ago, and this has severely affected the morale of the officers,” he said.

DoPT has completed the cadre reviews of 60 Central Group ‘A’ Services and 117 All India Services. “This is certainly a commendable achievement. But there is one straightforward question: what about CSS? Our key demand is the immediate completion of the Fourth CSS Cadre Review,” Gupta said.

Fixed Timeline

The CSS Forum is demanding a fixed timeline. “Along with the immediate completion of the current cadre review, we are seeking the institutionalisation of a systematic, transparent, and time-bound mechanism for cadre reviews, with clearly defined timelines, so that prolonged delays can be prevented in the future,” Gupta said. 

“Despite Ministries and Departments having formally projected their requirements years ago, continuing to function with reduced staff strength places additional pressure on the existing workforce and can affect the efficiency of Ministries and Departments. If required, we are also ready to provide supporting data, including comparative timelines of other cadre reviews,” Gupta said.