Railway Board Secretariat Service (Preparation of Seniority Quota Panel, Select List and Seniority List for the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade) Regulations, 2026: Notification dated 01.06.2026
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(Railway Board)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 1st June, 2026
G.S.R. 436(E).— In pursuance of sub-rule (5) of rule 10 and sub-rule (2) of rule 15 of the Railway Board Secretariat Service Rules, 2026, the President hereby makes the following regulations, namely:-
1. Short title and commencement.- (1) These regulations may be called the Railway Board Secretariat Service (Preparation of Seniority Quota Panel, Select List and Seniority List for the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade) Regulations, 2026.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Definitions.- (1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, –
(a) “Eligible Officer” means any officer who is eligible for appointment to the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade under rule 10 of the Railway Board Secretariat Service Rules, 2026, as on the first of July of the year for which the Seniority Quota Panel is prepared;
(b) “Departmental Promotion Committee” means the Committee constituted under regulation 3;
(c) “zone of consideration” means the list of eligible officers from which inclusions will be made in the Seniority Quota Panel;
(d) “Seniority List” means the list of officers working as Assistant Section Officer as on the 1st July of any year and revised in accordance with these regulations.
(2) The words and expressions used herein and not defined, but defined in the Railway Board Secretariat Service Rules, 2026 shall have the same meanings as assigned to them in the Rules.
3. Constitution of Departmental Promotion Committee and preparation of Seniority Quota Panel.- (1) The composition of the Departmental Promotion Committee to be constituted to assess the suitability of eligible officers for appointment to the post of Assistant Section Officer under seniority quota and to make suitable recommendations, shall be as follows:-
(i) Director or Deputy Secretary – Chairman;
(ii) Two Under Secretaries or Deputy Directors – Members.
(2) The Departmental Promotion Committee shall follow the guidelines or instructions as laid down by the Central Government from time to time.
(3) The strength of officers to be included in the panel for a year shall be determined by the Central Government in the Ministry of Railways, from time to time and, keeping in view the existing regular vacancies, including carried forward, as on the first of July of the year and anticipated regular vacancies upto the thirtieth June of the following year.
(4) The zone of consideration shall be as specified under the Departmental Promotion Committee guidelines and approved by the Central Government in the Ministry of Railways.
(5) Seniority Quota Panel for the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade shall be published every year on the first of July of the year in accordance with the strength of panel.
(6) Inclusions in the panel for the year shall be made by taking eligible officers of the Senior Secretariat Assistants’ Grade who have rendered not less than ten years’ approved service in that Grade and are in the zone of consideration, in the order of their seniority in that grade, subject to the rejection of the unfit, on the recommendations of the Departmental Promotion Committee approved by the competent authority:
Provided that eligibility service shall continue to be five years’ of approved service for officials holding the post of Senior Secretariat Assistant on regular basis as on the date of notification of the Railway Board Secretariat Service Rules, 2026.
Provided further that where sufficient number of eligible Senior Secretariat Assistants with ten years’ approved service are not available, officials having rendered twenty-one years’ approved service from Multi Tasking Staff Grade till Senior Secretariat Assistant’s Grade (including a minimum of five years’ approved service as Senior Secretariat Assistant) shall also be eligible for inclusion in the Select List for Assistant Section Officers’ Grade.
Further provided that the resultant vacancies of Assistant Section Officer arisen from the cadre restructuring of Railway Board Secretariat Service for the recruitment year 2004 and recruitment year 2011 shall be deemed to have been filled up from Senior Secretariat Assistant through seniority.
4. Appointment to Assistant Section Officer Grade.- (1) Appointment to the vacancies of seniority quota in the grade of Assistant Section Officer shall be made by the competent authority in the order in which the names of the officials appear in the panel.
(2) Inclusion in the panel shall not confer any right to appointment to the grade as appointments shall be made only upon the availability of regular vacancies.
5. Removal of names from the panel.- The names of the persons of the following categories shall be removed from the panel:
(a) persons appointed to Assistant Section Officers’ Grade;
(b) persons transferred to another service or post;
(c) persons who die or retire from service or whose services are otherwise terminated; and
(d) (i) persons officiating in the Grade beyond the period of probation specified in Rule 12, who are reverted therefrom as a result of a departmental enquiry or proceedings under the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968; or
(ii) persons who, either during or at the end of the period of probation in the Grade prescribed in Rule 12, are reverted therefrom under sub-rule (4) of Rule 14, on the ground of unfitness to continue in the Grade; or
(iii) persons yet to be appointed to the Grade, who on an annual review of the panel are found, because of deterioration in their record or conduct since inclusion in the panel to have fallen below the required standard.
6. Preparation of the Select List.- Select List or provisional Select List, as the case may be, shall be prepared at the end of the recruitment year by interpolating the names of officers included in the Seniority Quota Panel and Limited Departmental Competitive Examination Panel, in the order in which they appear in the relevant panel, for that select list year, in the ratio of 3:2:
Provided that the rotation of persons from each of the category stated above shall be taken only to the extent of the available persons from any of the stated category and persons from the other category shall, thereafter, be included enbloc:
Provided that number of officers to be included in the Select List from each of the panels will be restricted to the actual vacancies for that mode of recruitment for that Select List year:
Provided further that if selection process has not been completed for both the Seniority Quota and Limited Departmental Competitive Examination modes, a provisional Select List shall be prepared.
7. Preparation of Seniority List. – (1) A Seniority List shall be prepared as on the 1st July every year for Assistant Section Officers’ grade of the Service to determine the inter-se seniority of all officers serving in the grade and the Seniority List may be updated every year as on the 1st July of that year.
(2) Eligible Officers included in the Select List under regulations 4, 5 and 6 shall rank inter-se in the order in which they are included in the Select List.
(3) The relative seniority of persons regularly appointed to the Assistant Section Officers’ Grade from the Select List and direct recruits recruited against the regular vacancies for the period corresponding to the period for which the Select List has been prepared shall be determined according to the rotation of quota of regular vacancies in the Grade earmarked for the appointment of persons included in the Select List and direct recruitment in the ratio of 1:3, respectively.
(4) If adequate number of persons appointed to the Grade on the basis of seniority or Limited Departmental Competitive Examination or direct recruitment, as the case may be, are not available in the Grade, rotation of quotas of vacancies for each of the aforesaid category for the purpose of determining seniority shall be taken only to the extent of the available persons from any of the category and the persons from the other category shall be placed en bloc below the last slot.
8. Finalisation of Seniority List.- (1) The draft Seniority List as prepared in accordance with regulation 7 shall be posted on the website of Railway Board for inviting objections, if any.
(2) All objections received within thirty days of the publication of draft Seniority List will be decided by the competent authority, and the final seniority list shall be prepared after making revisions, if any, within thirty days thereafter.
(3) Final Seniority List shall not be modified except in case where it is required to implement an order of a competent court or a tribunal or in case when a supplementary selection list is received from the Staff Selection Commission and such modification shall be made following the general principles laid down for preparation of draft/final Seniority List as detailed above provided that it does not come in conflict with the relevant order of the court or tribunal.
[F. No. ERB-I/2012/11/2]
V.S. DAHIYA, Jt. Secy.
COMMENTS