Litigations over reservation, leave promotions in the CCS delayed by over 6 years

On Friday, Central Secretariat Service officials demonstrated outside the DoPT in North Block, citing the absence of regular promotions and denial of benefits like improved salary and pension. Over 1,000 members of this service participated in this protest.

The reservation in promotions is one of the reasons for these delayed promotions. This controversial issue has been taken up in the Supreme Court several times. The two CCS factions that support and oppose reservations are at odds on the issue of caste-based quota in promotions. Promotions in the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) have been postponed for six years due to ongoing litigation.

Across the 70-odd ministries, the departments and ministries are supposed to employ 12,000 officials at the moment. Around 4600-4700 posts remain unfilled out of this total. According to a CSS official familiar with the matter, the exam that is conducted to induct personnel has also been on hold since 2017. CSS officials allege that "promotions have been deferred due to the Supreme Court lawsuit on the issue of reservation in promotions."

The protesting officers claimed that several people had retired from service without getting their last promotions due to the ongoing court case. 

On February 8, 2022, the CSS Forum, a representative body of all Central Secretariat Service Officers, met with the MoS, Dr. Jitendra Singh, to discuss the above long-pending CSS cadre issues.