How can one work in Central Secretariat of Government of India?

About Central Secretariat Services (CSS)

The Central Secretariat of Government of India is run by officials from Central Secretariat Services (CSS). It is one of the few organization in India which has its own cadre. CSS is considered one of the best organized cadre in Services just like Indian Administrative Services (IAS) or Indian Police Services etc. CSS Officials Comprises all category of posts from Group A to C (Group D posts do not exists). The officer class of CSS is comprises Group A and Group B Gazetted Officer of CSS own cadre and Officers on Deputation from All India Services, Central Organizations and at some time from State Government.

 How Can one Join or work in CSS?

One can enter into CSS from two ways. (i) At Group B and Below Rank Level (ii) At the Gazetted Level 

(i) All Group B and below rank Officials in the CSS are recruited through Staff Selection Commission (SSC) a Central Recruiting Agency under the Department of Personnel Training (DoPT), Government of India. SSC conducts exam at Graduate Level viz. Combined Graduate Level Examination (CGLE) after passing through which one can directly enter into CSS as Assistant Section Officer (ASO). Passing the same exam but if one get low rank, then still he can enters into CSS as Upper Division Clerk (UDC) or Senior Secretariat Assistant (SSA). 

Apart from CGLE, SSC also conducts exams at 10+2 level or Higher Secondary level popularly known as Combined Higher Secondary Level (CHSL) Examination. CHSL exam is conducted to recruit mostly Data Entry Operator(DEO), Lower Division Clerk (LDC) or Junior Secretariat Assistant (JSA). Two types of DEO and LDC/JSA is recruited by CHSL one is of X category and other is of Y Category. A candidate who wish to join CSS may select X category either for JSA/LDC or DEO. Y category posts are mostly of non-ministerial and belongs to C&AG, CGA etc organisations.

(ii) Officer in CSS at Group A and Group B(Gazetted) level

  Section Officer is a Group B Gazetted post and all Group A officials in the CSS are Under Secretary(US), Deputy Secretary (DS) and Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary. 

From Section Officer to Deputy Secretary one can reach only by promotion. Normally, ASO reach to the post of Deputy Secretary and Director. If any one recruited at very young age say 21, then he/she might reach up to the post of Joint Secretary which is a decision making posts.

All other Group A posts at the level of Joint Secretary and above are filled on Deputation basis from organisations such as IAS, IPS, IRS etc but mostly selected from IAS. 

Recently, Government of India has also introduced a policy in which a professional having expert in a subject can be entered into CSS on contract basis as per the requirement of specialists in the government.

These are the methods or way to enter into Central Secretariat Services.