Cabinet approves creation of 7 posts of Principal Director and 36 posts of Director

New Delhi. 16 August 2017. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for 7 posts of Principal Director and 36 posts of Director on regular basis in the Armed Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) Civil Service, Ministry of Defence as part of restructuring .

Creation of regular posts in the AFHQ Civil Service will alleviate stagnation the cadre. It will be in the interest of better cadre management and bring improvement in the efficiency of the service. This would be an innovative measure entailing no additional cost but would bring benefits from the perspective of cadre management and enable its better utilisation.

Creation of regular posts in the place of “in situ” promotions will ensure more transparency in cadre management. Assigning of higher responsibilities on regular posts will result in greater productivity and accountability with respect to AFHQ CS officers.

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHQCS) is second tier civil service, designated as group B service, responsible for providing staff, secretarial, housekeeping, clerical, and ancillary support services to the Indian Armed Forces headquarters and Inter-Services Organizations (ISOs) under the Ministry of defense (MOD) This cadre was constituted in 1968. The authorized strength of the service in 1968 was 1778; in 2011, 2644, and in 2016, 3235.

Other two components of the cadre are Armed Forces Stenographers Service (AFHQ SS), and Armed Forces Clerical service ( AFHQ Clerical service). The three services, which are all under the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) in the Ministry of defence (MOD), are referred to as Armed Forces Headquarter (AFHQ) cadre/ service.