Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services

Last updated June 17, 2022

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHQCS) is a Group A Central Civil Services with induction at Group B grade, responsible for policy formulation, implementation and providing administrative support through civilian officers and staff to the Tri-services headquarters of Indian Armed Forces and Inter-Services Organizations (ISOs) such as DRDO, DGQA, DGAQA, DGNCC etc under the Ministry of Defence (MOD).^[1] The cadre was established in 1968.^[1] The number of employees in the service in 1968 was 1778;^[1] in 2011, 2644;^[2] and in 2016, 3235.^[3]

Background

In 1942, during World War II, civilian employees under different departments and branches of the Armed Forces Headquarters responsible for providing static ancillary services were reorganized and consolidated under one head which was called the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The first CAO took over on 1 August 1942.^[4] In 1987, the post of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), was upgraded to the level of a Joint Secretary (JS).^[5]^[6]

Command and control

AFHQCS being an integral and specialist Service of Ministry of Defence (India) reports to Hon'ble Minister of Defence (India) through Defence Secretary/JS & CAO.^[6]^[7] The Defence Secretary is the Cadre Controlling Authority of AFHQCS.^[8]

Upgrading of posts

The AFHQCS pay grades have been revised upwards following the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Central Pay Commissions: in 1968, it had four grades, 204 were in Group A, and 1472 in Group B. The highest grade was senior civil staff officer, a level analogous to deputy secretary.^[1] After the 4th Central Pay Commission (1986), and Sixth Central Pay Commission(2006)a large number of existing posts were upgraded. By 2011 Group A level posts had doubled to 409 including 4 at Joint secretary level, and 2235 at Group B level.^[5] Following the 7 CPC, in July 2013, a committee was constituted to carry out further cadre restructuring/review of AFHQ Civil Service to enhance the career prospects of the AFHQ-Civil Service.^[6] It currently has six grades/levels, from Assistant Section Officer to Principal Director.^[2]^[9]^[10]

Grades and levels

There are three levels of inductions into the AFHQ service wherein there is a direct entry(DR) through prestigious Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by Union Public Service Commission as Section Officer ( Group -B Gazetted), then direct recruitment at ASO level through SSC ( Combined Graduate level) and by promotion from upper division clerk (UDC) (Clerical Cadre) in ASO.^[5] The evolution of the service, its hierarchical structure, pay grades, and levels, are tabulated below:

AFHQ Civil Service: Grades and Levels Table 1
	Designation and Group	Pay grade-scales 1968	Pay Band and Scale [after 6CPC] 2008^[5]	Grade Pay (Rs) 2008	level in Pay matrix 2016^[11]^: p75^[12]
1	Senior Administrative Grade (2001)^[5] designation changed to Principal Director in October 2002.^[13](Group`A') AFHQ Civil Service has 11 posts of Principal Director (Joint Secretary Equivalent) .^[6]	-	PB-4 37400-67000	10000	14
2	Director (Group 'A') Directors of the AFHQ Civil Service eligible for appointment to Principal Director on completion three years service.^[5]^{: Schedule IV p 20}^[6]	-	PB-4 37400-67000	8700	13
3	Senior Civilian Staff Officer/Joint Director (2001)^[5] designation changed to Joint Director in October 2002.^[13](Class I/ Group 'A') Joint Directors of the AFHQ Civil Service eligible for appointment to the Director grade on completion of 05 years of approved service in the grade^[5]^{: Schedule IV p 20}^[6]	1100-50-1400	PB-3 15600-39100	7600	12
4	Civilian Staff Officer (2001) designation changed to Deputy Director in October 2002.^[13](Group 'A') Deputy Directors of the AFHQ Civil Service will be eligible for appointment to the Joint Director grade and to other administrative posts on completion of 05 years of approved service in the grade.^[5]^{: Schedule IV p 20}^[6]	740-30-100-50-1150	PB-3 15600-39100	6600	11
5	Assistant Civilian Staff Officer (2001) Designation changed to Section Officer in October 2002^[13] Group 'B' 50% of the posts of Section Officers are filled by Direct Recruitment.^[6] Section Officers eligible for promotion to the grade of Deputy Directors on completion of 06 years service. In addition, up-gradation (Non-Functional Scale) to the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-3 on completion of 4 years approved service as Section Officer^[5]^[6]	350-25-500-30-520-EB-20-800	PB-2 (i) 9300-34800 (on initial appointment) (ii) 15600-39100 (Non-functional scale/Grade Pay on completion of 4 years approved service)	(i) 4800 (ii) 5400 (Non- functional Grade Pay)	8-9
6	Assistant Section Officer (Group 'B', Non-Gazetted) Ministerial. Assistant Section officer grade done by Direct Recruitment (50%) and 50% by Promotion from UDC grade.^[6]	210-10-270-15-200-EB-15-450- 20-520	Group 'B', Non- Gazetted) PB-2 9300-34800	4600	7

Strength

The authorized strength of the service is 2644 (2011), an increase of 866, from a total of 1778 in 1968.^[1]^[5] This is in addition to Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers Service, which has an overall strength of 856 (8 Senior Principal Private Secretary; 44 Principal Private Secretaries; 300 Private Secretary; and 504 Personal Assistants).^[14] The increase in strength of the service is tabulated below:

Strength of AFHQCS 1968-2016 Table 2
	Designation and Group	authorized strength 1968^[1]^{: second Schedule}	authorized strength 2001 ^[5]^{: Schedule I p 13}	authorized strength 2011^[2]	authorized strength 2016^[3]
1	Senior Administrative Grade]^[5] Designation Changed to Principal Director in October 2002.^[13](Group`A') AFHQ Civil Service has 4 posts of Principal Director.^[6]	nil	2	3	4
2	Director (Group 'A')	nil	9	20	21
3	Senior Civilian Staff Officer/Joint Director.^[5]Joint Director, since October 2002.^[13](Group 'A')	12	72	83	157
4	Civilian Staff Officer. Deputy Director since in October 2002.^[13](Group 'A')	194	253	303	419
5	Superintendent- Central civil services class II ministerial (1968)/ Assistant Civilian Staff Officer (2001). Designation changed to Section Officer in October 2002^[13] Group 'B'	506	683	778	514
6	Assistant Section Officer (Group 'B', Non-Gazetted) Ministerial.	1066	1709 including leave reserve	1457	2120
		1778	2571	2644	3235

Time Line

1 August 1942

In response to the demands of the World War II civilian employees in the War Department in Delhi are consolidated under the Office of Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). The first four CAO were brigadiers of the Indian Army.^[4]

1 March 1968

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service constituted as group B Service from the existing staff under the Armed Forces headquarters and inter service organisations. The highest grade in the AFHQ Civil Service is Senior Staff Officer, analogous to a deputy secretary, with pay grade of Lt colonel.^[1]

1987

The post of CAO is upgraded to Joint Secretary.^[4]

2001

The Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service Rules, 2001, superseeded Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service Rules, 1968. Two Existing posts upgraded to JS, and Nine to Director.^[5]

31 October 2002

AFHQCS adopts new designations of Principal Director (Senior Administrative Grade); Joint Director (Senior Civilian Staff officer), analogous to Civil Service time scale post with 9 years of service; Deputy Director (deputy director), analogous to civil service time scale post with 4 years of service; and Section Officer (Assistant Civilian Section Officer) .^[13]

15 April 2011

Principal Director posts increased from 1 to 3: one each in the Military Secretary's branch, Adjutant General's branch, and Directorate general of Quality assurance. 20 existing post upgraded to Director post, a post analogous to civil service time scale post with 13 years^[2]

2017

Principal Director posts increased from 4 to 11 and Directors posts from 21 to 36. All promotions are based on vacancies at higher grade. All Directors in the service are empanelled to be Principal Directors.^[3] The present strength of AFHQ CS is 3235.^[3]

Related Research Articles

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) British government department responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom and its territories

The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.

The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services.

Pay Commission is set up by Government of India, and gives its recommendations regarding changes in salary structure of its employees set up in 1947, Since India's Independence, seven pay commissions have been set up on a regular basis to review and make recommendations on the work and pay structure of all civil and military divisions of the Government of India. Headquartered in Delhi(India), the commission is given 18 months from date of its constitution to make its recommendations.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the ceremonial commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the country. The Ministry of Defence provides policy framework and resources to the armed forces to discharge their responsibility in the context of the defence of the country. The Indian Armed Forces and Indian Coast Guard under the Ministry of Defence are primarily responsible for ensuring the territorial integrity of India.

The Sixth Central Pay Commission was convened by the Union Cabinet of India on 5 October 2006. The Pay Commission was headed by B. N. Srikrishna. The other members of the Commission were Ravindra Dholakia, J. S. Mathur, and Member-Secretary Sushama Nath.

The Ministry of Defence, is an executive ministry of the Government of Pakistan, tasked in defending Pakistan's national interests and values at home and abroad. It plays a major supporting role to the Pakistan Armed Forces and coordinates with a range of domestic, foreign and inter-governmental bodies.

Navy Command is the current headquarters body of the Royal Navy, and as of 2012 its major organisational grouping. It is a hybrid, neither a command, nor simply an installation. Royal Navy official writings describe Navy Command Headquarters both as a physical site, on Whale Island, a collective formed of the most senior RN officers, and as a budgetary grouping.

The Civil Services refer to the career government civil servants who are the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India. Elected cabinet ministers determine policy, and civil servants carry it out.

The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and all civil services under the rules of business of the government.

Gazetted Officers are executive/managerial level ranked government officers in India. Authority for a gazetted officer to issue an official stamp comes from the President of India or the Governors of States. To that effect, they are de jure representatives and delegates of the Indian State and the President. If a person's name is published in the Gazette of India or any state government gazette, he/she is called Gazetted.

One Rank One Pension (OROP), or "same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement", is a longstanding demand of the Indian armed forces and veterans. The demand for pay-pension equity, which underlies the OROP concept, was provoked by the exparte decision by the Indira Gandhi-led Indian National Congress (INC) government, in 1973, two years after the historic victory in the 1971 Bangladesh war.

Joint Secretary to Government of India is a post under the Central Staffing Scheme and the third highest non-political executive rank in Government of India. The authority for creation of this post solely rests with Cabinet of India.

The Indian Defence Estates Service is a Civil Service in the Government of India. Its Cadre Controlling Authority (CCA) is the Ministry of Defence. Civil Services Examination conducted every year by Union Public Service Commission provides a gateway for entry into this service. The Service traces its origin to 16 December 1926 and has been constantly evolving since then. The service was initially known as the Military Lands and Cantonment Service (1926-1983), and then Defence Lands and Cantonment Service (1983-1985). In 1985, it was renamed as the Indian Defence Estates Service. The service is governed by the Indian Defence Estates Service Rules, 2013, where 75% intake is by direct recruitment and 25% by promotion.

Rank Pay is a scheme implemented by the Rajiv Gandhi led Indian National Congress (I) Government in 1986, in the wake of 4th Central Pay Commission (4CPC), that reduced the basic-pay, or grade pay, of seven armed officers ranks of 2nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant, captain, majors, lt-colonel, colonels, and brigadiers, and their equivalent in the Air Force and the Navy by fixed amounts designated as 'rank-pay'. The reduction in the basic-pay, the established basis of determining rank equivalences between armed forces officers and civilian and police counterparts, altered long established historical grade-pay equivalences or parities between armed forces officers and police officer, which was an accepted principle since 1947 for determination of armed forces grade pay, and which was 'further cemented' in 1973, by the 3 Central Pay Commission (3CPC). The reduction in grade-pay apart from causing asymmetries in rank equivalence between the officers from the Indian Police Service and armed forces affected the basic pay, allowances, entitlements, promotion prospects, status, and pension of thousands of officers in the service in January 1986, and the decades after that. In 2012, reduction in armed forces grade-pay, which was a subject of litigation since 1994, was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of India, which in a landmark judgement ordered the government to pay arrears to the more than 20,000 affected officers of the armed forces.

Defence pensions are pensions paid from the Defence Services Estimates. Approximately 36 percent of amount budgeted for defence pensions is on account of defence civilians. The Defence pension bill for 2015–2016 was ₹ 54,500 crores, including pension outlay for about 400,000 defence civilians, and about Rs1000 Crores on account of allowances and establishment of Ministry of Finance personnel attached to MOD. On an average a defence civilian pensioners cost five times lesser than military pensioner. The per capita expenditure on defence civilians is approximately Rs. 5.38 Lakhs annually, in comparison with ₹ 1.38 Lakhs a year for defence pensioners paid from the defence services estimates. The per capita bill on account of defence civilian pensioners is higher mainly because they serve longer, reach the highest grades in the pay scales, are eligible for One Rank, One Pension (OROP) pensions, and are and host of allowance].

The 7th Central Pay Commission (7CPC), constituted in February 2014 the principles and structure of emoluments of all central government civilian employees including defence forces in India, submitted its report on 19 November 2015. 7CPC's recommendations affects the organization, rank structure, pay, allowances and pension, of 13,86,171 armed forces personnel. This helps A salary monitoring system is designed to determine and suggest needed changes to the salaries of government employees.^{page 105, para 6.2.2[3]}

Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India. The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.

The Defence Secretary is the administrative head of the Ministry of Defence. This post is held by a senior Indian Administrative Service of the rank of secretary to the Government of India. The current Defence Secretary is Ajay Kumar.

Additional Secretary is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India. The authority for creation of this post solely rests with Cabinet of India.

The Railway Board Secretariat Service (RBSS) is a Group 'B' civil service in the Secretariat of the Ministry of Railways of the Union Government of India.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "SRO 113 Civil Service Rules, 1968" (PDF). MOD. 1 April 1968. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
1 2 3 4 Ministry Of Defence (15 April 2011). "SRO 27 Armed Forces Headquarters civil Service (Amendment) rules , 2011" (PDF). SRO 27. New Delhi: MOD. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
1 2 3 4 Ministry of Defence, CAO (21 October 2016). "Seniority list". Office of JS (Trg) &CAO, Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
1 2 3 Ministry of Defence, CAO (30 November 2016). "BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OFFICE OF THE JS (T) & CAO". CAO, Ministry of defence. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "S.R.O. 87 Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service Rules, 2001" (PDF). S.R.O. 87. New Delhi: Ministry of Defence. 1 May 2001. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Ministry of Defence. "PROFILE OF SERVICE, DUTIES, CAREER PROSPECTS OF SECTION OFFICER IN ARMED HEADQUARTERS CIVIL SERVICE" (PDF). MOD. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
↑ Ministry of Defence, Office of the JS(E/CAO). "Chief Administrative Officer". Office of the JS(E/CAO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
↑ Ministry of Defence (28 November 2016). "ORGANIZATIONAL CHART" . Retrieved 28 November 2016.
↑ Som, Vishnu (6 January 2018). "Defence Ministry Withdraws Controversial Order Seen To Downgrade Military Officers". NDTV . New Delhi . Retrieved 17 January 2018.
↑ "Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman withdraws order on Officers' rank". The Economic Times . New Delhi. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
↑ "Report of Seventh Central Pay Commission" (PDF). New Delhi: Government of India. 19 November 2015. Archived from the original (p 899) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
↑ "MINISTRY OF FINANCE (Department of Expenditure) RESOLUTION" (Gazette Notification) (in Hindi and English). New Delhi: Ministry of Finance. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ministry of Defence (31 October 2002). "Amendment to Army headquarter Civil service rules" (PDF). SRO 239. New Delhi: MOD. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
↑ MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (25 March 2004). "S.R.O.47 Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers' (Group `A' and `B' posts) Service Rules, 2004" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2016.

External links

Chief Administrative Officer
Report of Seventh Central Pay Commission Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance
Gazette-Notification, 25 July 2016 Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance
Report of the Sixth Central Pay Commission Ministry of Finance
7 CPC Notification for defence-personnel, Officers, 7 September 2016 Ministry of Defence

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:3-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "SRO 113 Civil Service Rules, 1968" (PDF). MOD. 1 April 1968. Retrieved 25 September 2016.

[:5-2] 1 2 3 4 Ministry Of Defence (15 April 2011). "SRO 27 Armed Forces Headquarters civil Service (Amendment) rules , 2011" (PDF). SRO 27. New Delhi: MOD. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

[:7-3] 1 2 3 4 Ministry of Defence, CAO (21 October 2016). "Seniority list". Office of JS (Trg) &CAO, Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 29 November 2016.

[:4-4] 1 2 3 Ministry of Defence, CAO (30 November 2016). "BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OFFICE OF THE JS (T) & CAO". CAO, Ministry of defence. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

[:1-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "S.R.O. 87 Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service Rules, 2001" (PDF). S.R.O. 87. New Delhi: Ministry of Defence. 1 May 2001. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

[:0-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Ministry of Defence. "PROFILE OF SERVICE, DUTIES, CAREER PROSPECTS OF SECTION OFFICER IN ARMED HEADQUARTERS CIVIL SERVICE" (PDF). MOD. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

[7] Ministry of Defence, Office of the JS(E/CAO). "Chief Administrative Officer". Office of the JS(E/CAO), Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Retrieved 28 November 2016.

[8] Ministry of Defence (28 November 2016). "ORGANIZATIONAL CHART" . Retrieved 28 November 2016.

[9] Som, Vishnu (6 January 2018). "Defence Ministry Withdraws Controversial Order Seen To Downgrade Military Officers". NDTV . New Delhi . Retrieved 17 January 2018.

[10] "Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman withdraws order on Officers' rank". The Economic Times . New Delhi. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.

[Report_of_Seventh_Central_Pay_Commission-11] "Report of Seventh Central Pay Commission" (PDF). New Delhi: Government of India. 19 November 2015. Archived from the original (p 899) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

[Department_of_Expenditure_RESOLUTION_New_Delhi,25_July_2016-12] "MINISTRY OF FINANCE (Department of Expenditure) RESOLUTION" (Gazette Notification) (in Hindi and English). New Delhi: Ministry of Finance. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.

[:2-13] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ministry of Defence (31 October 2002). "Amendment to Army headquarter Civil service rules" (PDF). SRO 239. New Delhi: MOD. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

[14] MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (25 March 2004). "S.R.O.47 Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers' (Group `A' and `B' posts) Service Rules, 2004" (PDF). Retrieved 28 November 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

v t e Defence Ministry of India
Forces	Indian Air Force Indian Army Indian Coast Guard Indian Navy
Autonomous Bodies	Defence Research & Development Organisation Indian Ordnance Factories
Public Sector Undertakings	BDL BEL BEML GRSE GSL HAL MDL Midhani
Category Army Navy Air Force Coast Guard

v t e Public Services of India
All India Services	Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Indian Forest Service (IFS) Indian Police Service (IPS)
Central Civil Services	Central Labour Service (CLS) Central Engineering Services (CES) Central Engineering Services (Roads) (CES(Roads)) Central Secretariat Service (CSS) Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS) Indian Cost Accounts Service (ICoAS) Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES) Indian Defence Service of Engineers (IDSE) Indian Economic Service (IES) Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Indian Information Service (IIS) Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service (IPTAFS) Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME) Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE) Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE) Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS) Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Indian Revenue Service (Custom & Indirect Taxes) (IRS-C&IT) Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) (IRS-IT) Indian Statistical Service (ISS) Indian Telecommunication Service (ITS) Indian Radio Regulatory Service (IRRS) Indian Trade Service (ITrS)
State Civil Services	Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) (1957–2019) Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) Provincial Civil Service (PCS) Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) Tamil Nadu Civil Service (TNCS) West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS)
State Forest Services	Karnataka Forest Service (KFS) Provincial Forest Service (PFS)
State Police Services	Provincial Police Service (PPS) West Bengal Police Service (WBPS)
Non-State Civil Services	Provincial Development Service (PDS) Provincial Finance and Accounts Service (PFAS) Provincial Secretariat Service (PSS) Provincial Transport Service (PTS) Rajasthan Accounts Service (RAcS) West Bengal Judicial Service (WBJS) West Bengal Legal Service (WBLS)
Others	Civil Services of India State civil services of India