Officers of 1983, 1984 batches eligible for Level-16 IRMS posts: Railways

The railways said 1983- and 1984-batch officers of its eight organised services are eligible to apply for Level-16 posts under the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)

The railways has said 1983- and 1984-batch officers of its eight organised services are eligible to apply for Level-16 posts under the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS), a move which will allow some officers to potentially supersede their seniors to reach top posts in the railways based on their performance.

This will be the first such empanelment based on performance in the Indian Railways which has so far banked on "seniority" for filling top posts, officials said.

The secretary-level posts -- that of Chairman Railway Board, four Board members and two Director Generals -- will now be called Indian Railway Management Service (Level-17) posts.

Similarly, 29 General Manager posts of zonal railways, production units and other allied organisations, along with the posts of Additional Member (Planning) and Secretary of Railway Board. will be called IRMS (Level-16) posts.

All officers belonging to the eight organised Group A services of the railways (Traffic, Mechanical, Electrical, Accounts, etc.) who are in Level-15 (Higher Administrative Grade) or above will be eligible to apply for these posts.

On Tuesday, the railways clarified the selection norms to be followed stating that the ministry will draw up a panel of eligible railway officers for appointment to Level-16 IRMS posts.

It said that the empanelment shall be done batch wise from amongst the eligible candidates, selecting the best suitable officers through a comprehensive assessment by the ministry and then approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

"Only those officers of 1983 and 1984 exam batch, who shall be in service as on September 1, 2022, belonging to 8 organised services -- IRSE, IRSME, IRSEE, IRSSE, IRSS, IRTS, IRPS and IRAS -- and working in Level 15 (HAG) or above posts on regular basis, shall be eligible for submission of application forms for empanelment to Level-16 posts," the railways said in a circular on Tuesday.

For being considered for empanelment, eligible officers will have to apply for empanelment indicating top three positions that they would like to be considered for, description of top five contributions to the organisation in lifetime and description of top five contributions that they will make in the aspired positions in a given time frame.

The application would also have to be accompanied with the latest copy of annual property return filed by the applicant clearly indicating the date of filing. The last date for receipt of applications will be 21 days from the date of issue of this letter that is June 7, 2022.

Officials said that this system would end departmentalism. This also does away with the need to merge all officers from different services into a common seniority list, which was proving to be a bone of contention.