Department of'Personnel & Training

(Cadre Review Division)

Subject: Third Cadre Review of Military Engineering Service - Engineering Cadre

(Indian Defence Services of Engineers (IDSE».

Reference JS (CS) notes on page 28/N. The matter was re-examined and on
the basis offunctional necessity, we may agree with the MoD request for 6 additional
posts of CE level in E-in-C's branch, who will be Incharge of areas such as Utility
Services, Personnel, Arbitration, Legal, MIS and Training. Accordingly, para 7.6
onward has been revised. The cadre review proposal of IDSE has been examined as
under:

2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 The proposal on the file relates to third Cadre Review of Indian Defence
Service of Engineers (IDSE). The proposal has been forwarded by Ministry of
Defence (extracts of the file are given at pages 1-211Corr) with approval of Defence
Secretary and concurrence of Secretary, Defence (Finance).

2.2 Military Engineering Services (MES) is one of the largest single construction
Agency in the country, with an annual budget of Rs, 6500 crores, It constructs and
maintains buildings, roads, bridges, airfields, naval bases and complicated semi-
mechanized structures for Army, Air Force, Navy, DRDO, Ordnance Factories, Coast
Guards, Inspection Organisations and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, etc. It is not
only civil structures that MES constructs and maintains, but the electric and water
supply, waste water treatment, air conditioning, fire fighting installations and power
generation systems as part of the day-to-day MES functions.

2.3 Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C) is the head of MES as well as of the Corps of

Engineers of the Indian Army, and is of the Rank of Lieutenant General, He is the
Engineer Advisor to the Ministry of Defence, the three Service Chiefs and Heads of
other Defence organisations under Ministry of Defence. MES is manned by a mix of
civilian and Army personnel, both at officer and subordinate levels, as indicated in the
Table below
.f"""",~c
2.5 The Distribution of posts between Civilian and Army personnel is governed by
SRO 19-E (Annexure "I). The civilian component of MES officers consist of three
Group 'A' Services viz. the Engineer Cadre (Indian Defence Service of Engineers),
the Surveyor Cadre and the Architect Cadre in the organised Group 'A' Services.
These were constituted as Group 'A' Services in 1947. The three cadres have been
constituted with separate Rules, Seniority, etc. The civilian officers are directly
recruited through the Combined Engineering Examination conducted every year by
the UPSC. The co-relation between Military officers and IDSE officers in the
functioning ofMES is given in Annexure II.
2.6 The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the Cadre Controlling Authority (CCA) of
these cadres. The First Cadre Review of Group' A' Officers of MES was sanctioned
in 1985 and the Second Cadre Review was initiated in 1987 and completed in 2000.
As per the existing instructions, cadre review of Group 'A' Central Service should
ordinarily be carried out every five years. However, no cadre review of MES officers
could be done since 2000 due to various reasons. The Third Cadre Review of all these
three cadres of the MES is proposed now. In this file, the proposal for the cadre
review ofIDSE has been examined.
3. RECRUITMENT
3.1 Recruitment to the IDSE is mainly at Junior Time Scale (Assistant Executive
Engineer) through Combined Engineering Service Examination, conducted by UPSc.
There is 100 % direct recruitment at JTS level. 33 % of the vacancies of Senior Time
Scale (Executive Engineer) level are filled by promotion from Group 'B' Cadre
(Assistant Engineers)
4. CADRE STRUCTUE OF IDSE
4.1 The existing Cadre structure ofIDSE is as follows:

SI.No. Name of the Post & Pay-scale Grade No. of posts

1. Additional Director General HAG 3
(ADG) fRs. 22400-24500)
2. Chief Engineer (CE) SAG 23+4 Ex-cadre posts = 27
(Rs. 18400-22400)
3. Additional Chief Engineer (ACE) JAG 27+5 Ex Cadre Posts - 32
fRs. 16400-20000)
4. Superintending Engineer (SE) JAG 201 + 14 Ex-Cadre posts = 215
(Rs. 14300-18300)
5. Executive Engineer (EE) STS 525
(Rs. 12000-16500 / Rs. 10000-
15200)
6. Assistant Executive Engineer JTS 200
(AEE)
(Rs 8000-13500)
Total Duty Posts 1002
7. Reserve (Rs.8000-13500) JTS 50
Total 1052
-
A graphical representation of the Ideal cadre pyramid and the existing cadre pyramid
of IDSE may be seen at Annexure - ill and Annexure - IV respectively.
~
6. PROPOSAL
6.1 To meet the functional requirements and career aspirations of the members of
the Service, the Ministry of Defence have proposed to upgrade one post of SAG to
HAG, 48 posts of JAG to SAG due to proposed increase in the number of Zones and
the abolition of 32 posts of Additional Chief Engineer (ACE) in the pay scale of Rs.
16400-20000 and 19 posts from Senior Time Scale to JAG. The strength o[STS is
proposed to be reduced from 525 to 485. It is also proposed to reduce the strength at
JTS level from 200 to 180 and reserves from 50 to 45 to provide matching savings.

6.2 The present sanctioned strength and the proposed strength of the Service are as
under:

51. Post I Pay scale Existing strength Proposed strength Variation

No as recommended
by MoD
Grade No. of posts No. of Posts

l. Additional Director HAG 3 4 +1

General (ADG) (Rs. -
22400-24500)
2. Chief Engineer (CE) SAG 23 +4 Ex Cadre 66 + 9 Ex-Cadre +43 +5Ex
(Rs.18400-22400) Posts Posts Cadre Posts
=27 =+48
=75 -
3. Additional Chief JAG 27 + 5 Ex-Cadre 0 -32
Engineer (ACE) (Rs.
16400-20000)
Posts
=32
-
4. Superintending JAG 201 + 14 Ex- 220 + 14 Ex-Cadre +19
Engineer (5E) (Rs. Cadre Posts Posts -
14300-18300) =215
=234

5. Executive STS - NF 525 485 -40

Engineering (EE) Grade -
(Rs. 12000-16500 I Ordinary
Rs.IDOOO-15200) Grade
6 Asst!. Executive JTS 200 180 -20
Engineer (AEE) -
(Rs.8000-13500)
Total Dutv Posts 1002 978 -24
7. Reserve (Rs. 8000- ITS 50 45 -5
13500)
Grand total 1052 1023 -29

7. ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSAL

Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) -·Additional Director General (ADG) (Rs.

22400-24500)

7.1 At present, there are 3 HAG level officers. These are DG (pers) in E-in-C
branch and ADG (D & C), Pune and ADG (OF&DRDO), Secundrabad, in
lower formations. The CCA has proposed to increase the strength of ADG to 4 by
Threshold Analysis for Promotion to HAG level in order of Rank
(Technical Services as on 01.07.2007)

SI.No. lName of Service Time taken

Time taken for promotion in years
(Batch) for promotion
in years 40
~ 35
m 30
> 25
'Q 20
1. IRSE (1976) 31 Years il15
~10
2. IRSEE (1975) 32 Years :E 5
3. IRSS (1975) 32 Years o
4. IRSME (1973) 34 Years
5. IDSE (civil-1972) 35 Years
6. I. Ins. S (1970) 37 Years
I. Sup. S (1969) Service (batch)
7. 38 Years

From the above, it can be seen that only 1972 batch in IDSE has been covered
for HAG level, i.e., after 35 years, while their counterparts in IRSE etc. are getting the
HAG in 31-32 years. Looking at the Seniority List ofIDSE officers, it is seen that if
one post of SAG is allowed to be upgraded to HAG, only one officer out of 3
officers of 1974 Batch would be eligible to get the promotion, and there would be a
marginal improvement in the promotional prospects in IDSE.

Recommendation: In view of para 7.1 and 7.2. one post of SAG may be allowed to
be upgraded to HAG.

Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) - Chief Engineer (CE) (Rs. 18400-22400)

7.3 At present, Ministry of Defence has shown that there are 27 posts at SAG
(23+4 Ex-Cadre posts) sanctioned at the level of CEo The Ministry of Defence has
proposed to increase these to 75 posts by upgradation of32 posts of Additional Chief
Engineer (ACE) (27 + 5 Ex-cadre posts) (Rs. 16400-20000), which are proposed to be
abolished and upgradation of another 16 posts of Superintending Engineers (SE) (Rs.
14300-18300) including one post to be filled up in place of the post upgraded to HAG.

7.4 It has been stated by MoD that at present, there are a total 29 zones out of
which, 14 are manned by Civil Officers at the level ofCE. The workload orMES has
increased from Rs. 1700 crores in 1991 (during second cadre review) to Rs. 7000
crores at present. The computed workload norms, jointly fixed by the Ministry of
Defence and the Ministry of Finance, of a CE in a Zone is about Rs. 90-140 crores.
Considering an average computed workload ofRs. 115 crores for Zones, the CCA has
stated that there is a requirement of about 60 zones to cater for the existing workload
(The details of Financial Powers of the Executives ofMES from Chief Engineer to
.-r.yyyV\ p-vC -P"i (.
[a} Recommendation: The proposal is functionally justified and keeping in view the
fact that against the need to have a total of 60 zones on workload basis, the MoD has
only recommended 41 zones, we may recommend 6 Additional posts of CEs.

7.5 The MoD have further stated that one ofthe major functions of the MES is to
provide basic utility and maintenance services of electricity, water, civil work etc at
the zonal level. Moreover a lot of assets are being created under the Married
Accommodation Project (MAP), which are to be maintained by MES. It has been
stated by MoD that during the next 6 years, 1.95 lakhs number of Married
Accommodation amounting Rs. 18000 crores are expected to be completed and the
same shall be maintained, equipped with furniture, by MES. Also, MES shall be
required to provide and maintain electric and water supply installations to provide
services to these dwelling units. Therefore, during next 5 years, the effective increase
in the workload of the MES shall be around 3.5 to 4 times. The details of MAP are
given in Annexure VI. Further, it is proposed to increase the number of Zones from
29 to 41 (para 7.4 above). The average load on each CE in 41 zones would increase
from Rs. 115 crores to approximately Rs. 175 crores. In order to lessen the burden on
a single officer and efficiently manage the workload, it is felt by MoD that the
workload may be divided between two officers. Accordingly, it is proposed that one
additional post of CE level be sanctioned for each zone to look after the utility
services, which will be approximately Rs. 70 crores. This would also take care of
future increase of workload. This would require 20 additional posts. It has been
stated by MoD that the norms are laid down for workload for executive appointment
like CE, CWE, GE, etc. There are no separate norms for CE (Utility Services).

(b) Recommendation: In view of the functional justification given by MoD, one

additional post of CE level may be agreed for each Zone (total 20 posts of CE for 20
zones) to look after Utility and Maintenance services.

7.6 Tn addition, it has been stated by MoD that it is considered necessary to have
CE level officers at E-in-C's Branch for areas such as Utility Services, Personnel,
Arbitration, Legal, MIS, Training etc, which are presently looked after by ACE level
officers. Further taking into account the proposal to abolish the posts of Additional
Chief Engineer (Rs 16400-20000), it is therefore proposed by MoD to increase the
number of posts of CE in E-in-C's branch from the existing 5 to 11 (net increase of 6
posts) to meet functional requirement (vacuum of ACE).
(c) Recommendation: In view of the functional necessity, we may agree for
increasing the number of CEs in the E-in-C branch from 5 to 11 - one CE for Utility
Services, one for MIS, one for Personnel, one for Training, one for Arbitration and
one for Legal,.ffi;., .4a-> ""- •.•.•.un;~ tUu"u ~ »-u;d M- (74,.. f1~
,,(,wd r: tUi.- .l-;(..'~ ,u...d. C..--.c.-•.."'"h••"', /wf.'<'1 r>n-u/~"""'" -V ?",,:.:.r.,..>oL.L/
a.d#iu Inv -V'£t.... ? Pi.vK .r..wt?a~- J~~

Ovl.\-& p.38-_
~ }n-e- fo--e <!,..
7,10 In view of the above, the strength at the level of SAG from the present 27 to 75
(a net increase of 48 at this level) is recommended by upgrading 16 posts of SEs (Rs.
14300-18300) and abolition of32 posts of ACE (Rs. 16400-20000) by upgrading to
SAG level.

THRESHOLD ANALYSIS
7,11 The IDSE Officers of 1975 batch onwards with service span of upto 29

years are stagnating at the level of SE (14300-18300) [JAG grade]. Out of a

total strength of 215 only 11 have put in service of 15-19 years; 147 have
service of 20-24 years, At present, the IDSE officers of the 1975 batch
(partially) are promoted to the SAG grade, If the proposal as above is

approved, the IDSE officers of 1979 batch would get promoted, This would
bring in some relief to the stagnating officers,

Batch / Number of years to reach SAG Batch / Number of years to reach

after entry (Before the cadre review) after the cadre review

1975/33 Years 1979/29 Years

7,12 A comparative chart is given below, which indicates the comparative

promotional prospects of IDSE, after this cadre review, viz-a-viz other Technical
Services:

SI. Name of the Service Batch of juniormost Time Taken to reach

No. promoted to SAG SAG
1. Indian Railway Service 1986, 21 Years
of Engineers (lRSE)
2. Indian Railway Service 1985 22 Years
of Mechanical
Engineers (lRSME)
3, Indian Railway Stores 1985 22 Years
Service
4, Indian Railway Service 1984 23 Years
of Electrical Engineers
(IRSEE)
5. Indian Defence 1979 29 Years
Service of Engineers
(IDSE)
6, Indian Inspection 1972 35 Years
Service

Position as on 01.07,2007, (Flag 'B')

 - 4/-
~ hn-e- -1""4" c
Surveyor and Architect cadre). Therefore abolition of this grade would result in
better promotional avenues for SE.
(b) This will also resolve the problem of equivalence between civilian and
military officers ofMES.
(c) At present no executive work is entrusted to ACE. Once these posts are
upgraded to the CE level, they would be posted as Jt DG (Utilities) in the
zones and their experience would be utilized in more effective manner.
(d) This grade neither exists in the two other sister Cadres viz Surveyor and
Architect cadres nor in the other technical services under Govt of India like
the CPWD, Railways, etc.
(e) The Cadre Review Committee during the 2nd Cadre Review had
recommended abolishing this grade stating that" that there should be no
increase in the number of posts of Additional Chief Engineers and that this
level may not be introduced in the Surveyors and the Architects Cadres. The
existing posts of ACE in the Engineer Cadre, may however, continue on
existing basis and that these posts may be phased out as and when falling
vacant."
(f) Vth CPC also deliberated the issue. However, Vth CPC while considering
upgradation of posts of ACE (erroneously reflected as 174 against the actual
existing 27), keeping in view the large number, left it to the government to
decide on it as part of cadre review.
(g) The IDSE ~..9iation has also recommended abolishing these posts as
this would, besides resolving the perennial problem of equivalence of
army and civilian cadre, would also enable promotion from SE to CE, as

available in other Departments. The present incumbents would continue

to be in the present scale as personal to them and these posts would be
phased out as and when they fall vacant

7.15 Recommendation: In view of the justification / reasons given by MoD for

the proposed abolition of the Grade - ACE, we may agree with the proposal of MoD.

Superintending Engineer (SE) (Rs. 14300-18300)

7.16 At present, MoD has shown that there are 215 posts (201 + 14 Ex-cadre posts)
sanctioned at the level of SE. If 16 posts are upgraded to CE (SAG level), as proposed
by MoD, there would be total 199 posts. The MoD has proposed to increase the
number of posts at this level to 234 (220+14 Ex-Cadre posts) by upgradation of 35
posts of Executive Engineers (EEs) (Rs. 12000-16500/ Rs. 10000-15200), including
16 posts to be filled up in place of posts upgraded to SAG. So, the net accretion at this
 _Ln-

-
SI. Name of the Service Batch of juniormost Time Taken to reach
No. promoted to JAG JAG
1. Indian Ordnance 1993 14 Years
Factory Service (IOFS)
2. Central Engineering 1992 15 Years
Service (CES) (Roads)
3. Indian Naval Armament 1990 17 Years
Service (INAS)
4. Central Water 1989 18 Years
Engineering Service
(CWES)
5. Central Engineering 1987 20 Years
Service (CES) (CPWD)
6. Indian Defence 1987* 20 Years
Service of Engineers
(IDSE)
7. Indian Inspection 1984 23 Years
Service (lIS)
8. Indian Supply Service 1981 26 Years
~ After cadre review
Note: The comparison has been made with other Central Group' A' Engineering Services, as the
information of Railway Engineering Services was not available of this Grade.

Threshold Analysis for Promotion to SAG level in order of Rank

(Technical Services as on 01.07.2007) (Flag 'B')

SJ. Name of Service Time taken

No. (Batch) for promotion Time taken for promotion in years
in years
30
25
IOFS (1993) 14 20
L
15
2 CES (Roads) (1992) 15 10
5
3. INAS (1990) 17
o
4 CWES (1989) 18 ~'b' Rfr'
v::W.:::(f,
..e' ~'$'~'
V::~ \:;<ff ~ ,~V::~
,b' cg,"
~
5 "ES (CPWD) (1987) 20
'tv;;"'/? <.-? 1)'.",0 'C: r?'"
6 lDSE (1987*) 20
!,:'"
~ (t<!f "
0'"
<:J'~ 01' "r
(.v"'-'::' v ,.
'"
<i" cY",.
7 L INS. S (1984) 23 G G
8 L SUP. S (1981) 26 Service (Botch)

Recommendation: Thus, it can be seen that IDSE is still placed well behind viz-a-viz
other Technical Services. Therefore, we may recommend 19 additional posts by
upgradation ofEEs to JAG in the pay scale of Rs. 14300-18300.

Senior Time Scale (STS) :

Executive Engineers (EE) (B.s. 12000-16500/10000-15200)
7.20 At present, there are 525 posts sanctioned at the level ofEE. After 35 posts are
upgraded to the level of SE, the remaining posts will be 490. The MoD has proposed
to maintain the number at 485 by abolishing 40 posts, to provide matching savings.
 f')-VY'V1 f>-""'-- - jo <e '<':

9. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

9.1 The financial implications of the proposal for IDSE cadre, as proposed by
MoD amounts to a net saving ofRs. 2,05000/- per month, which works out to be Rs.
24.581akhs (approx.) annually. The detailed financial implication is given at Flag 'C'.

10. If the proposal in para 8 above is approved, the file may be referred to
Department of Expenditure, after clearance of the proposal by the Department of
Expenditure, a note containing the views of both the Department will be submitted for
consideration of the Cadre Review Committee (Chaired by Cabinet Secretary).

(P.K. Subnani)
Senior Research Officer
12.03.2008-
I
I

-46-

eference notes on re- a e

MOS (PP) has approved the Cadre Review proposal ofIndian Defence Service of
ngineers (IDSE). We may now forward the file to the Department of Expenditure,
inistry of Finance.for approval/concurrence.

(P.K. Subnani)
Senior Research Officer
01-04-2008

EG North Block.