Mussoorie to Delhi: 2016 batch IAS officers to join central ministries on July 2 as assistant secretaries

A section of Officer Trainees at LBSNAA in 2017

BY THE end of this month, the 2016 batch IAS officers who are presently ending their phase-II training at Mussoorie’s Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), will land up in the Central ministries and departments in New Delhi for a 13-week-long posting as assistant secretaries. They will begin their work on July 2. An assistant secretary receives a monthly salary in the bracket of…

Rs 56,100 — 1,17,500, i.e. in the pay matrix level of 10 under the 7th Central Pay Commission. They need to transit from Mussoorie to New Delhi during the weekend, i.e. 30th June and 1st July; the cost of the transit will be borne by the government, a DoPT office memorandum (OM) dated June 13, 2018, said. 

Once the officers complete their stipulated 13 weeks at the Centre, they will then move to the states and join in their respective cadres. 

This 13-week-long mandatory posting at the Centre is being treated as central deputation. Each of the assistant secretaries will report to the joint secretary (admin) of the ministry in which she is posted, according to the same OM. 

Apart from getting the usual medical facilities, the officers are also entitled to have the central deputation tenure allowance, to be paid at the rate of 10% of the basic salary at a ceiling of Rs 9,000. The officers will be given house rent allowances. 

The assistant secretaries are advised not to take any leave during this 13-week-long period, as it’s quite a short span. The office memorandum further clarified that no other allowance like the briefcase allowance would be admissible to the assistant secretaries. 

In fact, some central government officers are entitled to reimbursement of expenditure incurred on purchase of briefcase, official bag, ladies’ purse. For the secretary-level officers, for example, the ceiling for the briefcase allowance is Rs 10,000. The 7th Central Pay Commission retained this allowance while recommending many others to be discontinued.