Since the proactive Minister has called the meeting at his own initiative to resolve the long-pending issues of CSS officers through interactive consultations, his embarrassment is understandable.

The DoPT inaction is said to have provoked CSS officers to stage a sit-in protest at the entrance of North Block on 25th Feb 2022. More than 1000 CSS officers, under their umbrella organization CSS Forum, are said to have participated in the sit-in protest.

The protest was called after several meetings and assurances by the cadre controlling authority DoPT failed to break the deadlock on the promotional issues affecting the CSS officers.

The protest once again highlighted the long-pending demand of CSS officers which includes the resumption of long-stalled promotions, an extension of all benefits of Organised Group A service to CSS including non-functional upgrade.

The historic protest at North Block is said to be the first of its kind after almost 22 years. In the late nineties and early 21st century, CSS officers were constrained to stage protests and hold rallies before the first cadre review of CSS was executed in 2003.

The Central Secretariat Service (CSS) is one of the earliest organized services in the country. The officers are posted in various Ministries and Departments, Prime Minister's Office, National Security Council Secretariat, intelligence agencies, Apex /Autonomous organizations of Government of India located at different places in the Secretariat in New Delhi. They are also appointed as the personal staff of the Union Council of Ministers of India.

The CSS has always been considered as the backbone of the Central Secretariat. It has been the repository of the institutional memory of the Central Government working and has been playing a vital role in ensuring continuity of administration in the Central Secretariat.

In the 2020-21 Covid-19 pandemic, CSS officers once again proved their mettle by continuously working on different fronts in a dynamic situation as it was. During this pandemic, CSS even lost 60 of its officers.

The origin of the service can be traced back to the year 1919 when the Imperial Secretariat Service came into being as one of the off-shoots of the Lewellyn-Smith Committee which had been set up on the eve of the introduction of the Montague Chelmsford Reforms. The posts of Assistant and Assistant Secretary/Under Secretary were filled by officers drawn from the Imperial Secretariat Service during the British Raj.

The Central Secretariat Service (Reorganization and Reinforcement) Scheme, submitted by Sir R.A. Gopalaswamy Iyengar, which can be regarded as the precursor of the service as it stands today, was evolved in 1949. It consists of posts of Under Secretary, Superintendent, Asst. Superintendent and post of Assistant at that time.

The Central Secretariat Service in its present form was constituted with effect from 1st October 1962, with the notification of CSS Rules 1962. As far as the composition of Central Secretariat Service is concerned, it is unique in nature and consist of Group-B officers i.e. Assistant Section Officer and Section Officer/Assistant Director (For Directorate) and Group A officers Under Secretary/Deputy Director (For Directorate), Deputy Secretary/Joint Director (For Directorate), Director, Joint Secretary (In Situ). Further in Central Staffing Scheme, CSS officers are placed at the level of Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary, and Secretary Level posts.

In the past, officers like PN Kripal, AJ Kidwai, NP Dube, Dr. D B Singh held the post of Secretary to Government of India. Many other officers in past also held various important positions at Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary level in the Government of India. P V Gopalan, the grandfather of present US Vice President Kamla Harris, was also a member of the Central Secretariat Service.

From 1946 until 2003, 50 percent of direct recruitment into CSS was through the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, the next 25 percent recruitment was through Annual Departmental Examination and next 25 percent by promotion. However, after the first cadre restructuring in 2003, the direct recruitment into CSS through the Civil Services Examination has been stopped.

It is pointed out that the 25th Feb protest was not a sudden development. Discontent has been building up and due to the failure of higher government machinery to pay attention and resolve the problem, the DoPT allegedly shirked its responsibility by citing the SC  case, without even realizing that the SC hasn't prevented it from following the principle of good governance.

It is pointed out that CSS officers are shown indifference all the time as the DoPT is more concerned and focused on streamlining avenues for IAS, IPS, and other officers.

So the CSS has to continually struggle for getting its legitimate dues. After the first cadre review in 2003, the second cadre review movement initiated in 2008 took eight years before the DoPT agreed to rename the designation of Assistant to Assistant Section Officers.

It only shows that the DoPT, which is supposed to work as the eye and ear of the government in personnel management, is said to be blind and deaf as well as dumb when it comes to resolving the problem of the most critical supporting tier of the bureaucracy.

Being the most critical supporting tier of the government, it goes without saying that the deserves constant grooming and its officers better career opportunities. However CS-1 division in DoP&T which is Cadre Controlling Authority of CSS is alleged to have never seriously looked into the cadre issues of CSS officers.  The prime reason is the Director level post at the CS-1 division being manned by non-CSS officers for many years who does not understand the intricacy of issues of CSS and its repercussions in the functioning of Central Government. Many times it is due to the wrong advice of Director CS-1 to the senior level officers of DoP&T, which leads to the avoidable delay in solving even the minor issues.

At present, CSS is facing acute stagnation due to the stoppage of promotions in each grade. Regular promotion orders in CSS were last issued in December 2015 and since then CS-1 division is continuously taking the stand that promotions in CSS can’t be done just because of the pendency of the ‘reservation in promotion’ case in Apex Court.

However, even after the clear judgment of Apex Court in the above matter, and instructions of Hon’ble MoS to senior officers, no action was taken by the CS-1 division with regard to regular promotions in CSS. It is also ironic that even during the pendency of reservation in promotion matter in the Court, DoP&T in mid-2018 issued instructions to all Cadre Controlling Authorities to go ahead with promotions subject to the outcome of the court case, and in all other services regular promotions are going on except in CSS.

Further, while regular promotions were halted by DoP&T, agitations were made by CSS Forum, due to which, DoP&T resorted to ad-hoc promotions and in December 2018 mass promotions were done on an ad-hoc basis. In, 2020, DoP&T again stopped ad-hoc promotions. Then after much pressure from the CSS forum, DoP&T took advice from the Attorney General of India and started promotion again. Now in 2021, a contempt petition was filed in Apex Court for the promotions made in DS to Director grade in CSS. Though no directions were issued in the impugned petition, only on the apprehension of contempt, DoP&T officers stalled even the Adhoc promotions in CSS despite the fact that Adhoc promotion is a temporary provision and no officer can claim Adhoc post as his right.

The moot question here is whether an eligible officer can be denied promotion citing the reason of pendency of any case in Court. Stagnation in CSS can be understood from the fact that Direct Recruit Assistant Section Officers of 2012 batch are yet to be promoted to the post of Section Officer and Under Secretary of 2011 batch are yet to be promoted to Deputy Secretary grade while eligibility from the US to DS is only 5 years of service in US grade.

Second, the long-pending issue of CSS is an extension of all benefits of Organised Group ‘A’ Service. It has been a fact that CSS is the earliest organized Group ‘A’ service in the country. Same has been established in DoP&T’s Cadre Review Division note dated 19th March 2018 (CR Division is the Nodal Department for deciding the status of any service as Organised Group A Service). Further, in a reply to Lok Sabha unstarred question no. 3744, DoP&T has stated that one of the benefits of organized Group –A service i.e. Non-Functional Upgrade (NFU) can not be acceded to CSS since there has been a status quo on grant of NFU to any service by the Ministry of Finance since July 2016. However, even after 2016, DOP&T has agreed to grant NFU to many other services i.e. CAPFs, Indian Railway Management Services, Indian Naval Material Management Service.

It is surprising that when a service can rise to the levels of Secretary to Government of India on a functional basis why pay-upgradation can not be given on a nonfunctional basis especially when such facilities are available to other similar services which are participating in Central Staffing Scheme.

Further, the CS-1 division, DoP&T, has issued orders restricting CSS officers to go on deputation even in Central Government till 9 years of service in Cadre. However, DoP&T’s own guidelines which are applicable to all other Central Government officers do not put any such restrictions. On seeing the noting of file on this issue which has been accessed by CSS forum through RTI, it seems that this issue is unnecessarily being delayed by DOP&T officers without any reason.

Also, there has been a demand by CSS Forum to officially announce 1st October as CSS day since CSS Rules were first notified on 1st October 1962. There has been a practice in Central Government to celebrate different service days to boost the morale of officers and highlight the importance of different services. Civil Services Day, Indian Defence Account Service Day, Audit day, AFHQ day are being celebrated by different Cadre Controlling Authorities however DoP&T has been reluctant on even official announcement of CSS day.

There are many issues in different grades which have plagued an otherwise prestigious service. Recently, CSS Forum has made several representations to seniors level officers of DoP&T. In the months of September and October 2021, the Additional Secretary of DoP&T held meetings with CSS Forum to look into the issues of CSS. However, the process was stalled from November when she got the charge of Establishment Officer, and she could not give much time for meetings. However, even after her instructions, her subordinate Joint Secretary did not give time for monthly meetings.

Aggrieved with such a situation, CSS officers started a relay twitter campaign which led to the Minister initiating a meeting with the CSS forum and assuring them of full cooperating in attending to their problems. However, even after 20 days, DoP&T Officers took no action which ignited frustration among officers of CSS who have been constantly working for improvement in Central Government functioning even after being denied promotions for years by DoP&T.

This further inaction by the CS-1 division and senior officers of DoP&T left CSS officers with no other option but to meet the Minister in charge. As per media reports, on 25th Feb, when CSS officers gathered to meet Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, the minister was not available in his office. His PS, after having a discussion with the Minister, assured the CSS Forum that the Minister is very positive on their issues and has instructed Secretary, DoP&T to immediately look into the issues of CSS officers and issue promotion orders by 10th March.

So the CSS officers are now keeping their fingers crossed and hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.