In a missive to the secretaries of all government departments, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said the Appointments Committee of Cabinet has desired that "the norm of fixing seven years as maximum period away from the cadre may be followed strictly".
The missive was sent in a bid to bring in uniformity in duration of foreign deputations and to check instances of overstay by officers.
The Centre has already issued a directive in which all the ministries and central departments were asked to restrict the tenure of officers of the organised group A and Group B services (IAS, IPS and IFS)of the GOI to a maximum of seven years when they go abroad.
"However, the guidelines were not being followed in letter and spirit," an official said today.
The posts covered includes UN Organisations, international financial institutions like World Bank,IMF, ADB, etc, multilateral organisations of which India is a member, like lAEA, WTO, Commonwealth Organisation, International Court of Justice, SAARC and bilateral bodies set up under the Vienna Convention, i.E. Embassies and Bodies set up under them.
Besides, the posts also included international NGOs or funding organisations from which India receives technical or financial assistance like International Red Cross Society, Action Aid, Aga Khan Foundation, Ford Foundation, etc.
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A Committee under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary with Secretary(Personnel), Finance Secretary screens all proposals tor deputation on foreign service terms of officers of the level of Joint Secretary and above, on a case to case basis, after the proposals have been approved by the Cadre Controlling Authority.
Such screening in the case of officers below the level of JS are done by a Committee chaired by the Secretary of the Cadre Controlling Ministry or Department with a member each, not below the level of JS from the DOPT and Department of Expenditure.
"A final decision on the recommendations of the Screening Committee is taken at the level of Minister-in-charge in the case of officers holding posts below JS-Ievel and with the approval of PM in the case of officers holding JS-Ievel posts or above," the official said.