Full Text
REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99
The Gazette of India
CG-DL-E-12032026-270889
EXTRAORDINARY
PART II—Section 3—Sub-section (i)
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
No. 173]
NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026/PHALGUNA 21, 1947
MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification Directorate)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 10th March, 2026
G.S.R. 179(E). — In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to article 309 of the Constitution,
the President hereby makes the following rules regulating the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination
for promotion to the post of Assistant Section Officer in Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification
Directorate, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, namely: -
1. Short title and commencement. - (1) These rules may be called the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology, Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate, Assistant Section Officer, Limited
Departmental Competitive Examination Rules, 2026.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Definition. – In these rules unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a) "appointing authority” means the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology;
(b) "available vacancy" means a vacancy in the post of Assistant Section Officer's grade in the
Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology which is required to be filled up on the basis of the results of the examination;
(c) "crucial date" means the first day of January of the year of the vacancies for which such examination
is held;
(d) “examination" means the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for promotion to the post
of Assistant Section Officer held in the manner specified in the Schedule;
(e) "recruitment year" means the period commencing from the 1st day of January and ending on the 31st
day of December of the same year;
(f) "Schedule" means the Schedule annexed to these rules;
(g) "Scheduled Castes" and "Scheduled Tribes” shall have the same meanings respectively as assigned
to them in clauses (24) and (25) of article 366 of the Constitution.
3. Conditions of eligibility. – Senior Secretariat Assistant in level-4 in the pay matrix (Rs. 25500-81100) in the
Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate, Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology with five years regular service in the grade on the crucial date shall be eligible to appear in the
Limited Departmental Competitive Examination. The eligible officer should have successfully completed two
weeks training in relevant field or area as decided from time to time.
4. Holding of the examination. – (1) The appointing authority shall notify the dates and place of the examination
and number of available and anticipated vacancies assessed at the time of announcing the examination.
(2) The examination shall be conducted after the expiry of at least thirty days from the date of notifying
the vacancies in the manner specified in the Schedule.
(3) The number of vacancies reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward
Classes, the Ex-servicemen and other special categories of person, if any, shall be clearly indicated in the
notification.
5. Results. - (1) On the basis of the aggregate marks secured by the candidate in Part I and II of the
examination, a merit list containing the names of the successful candidates in order of merit shall be notified,
keeping in view the number of vacancies and anticipated vacancies, if any, falling in the recruitment year.
(2) The standards of evaluation for candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
shall be as per the Government instructions from time to time.
(3) The candidates for appointment against the available vacancies shall be considered in the order in which
their names appear in the merit list prepared under sub-rule (1).
(4) The merit list shall remain in operation till the notified vacancies are filled up or upto a period of 18
months from the date of its approval by the appointing authority or till next merit list is approved by the
appointing authority, whichever is earlier.
6. Appointment. – The inclusion of the name of any candidate in the merit list shall not confer a right to
appointment and he shall be appointed by the Appointing Authority only after satisfying itself that no vigilance
or disciplinary case is either pending or contemplated against the candidate and after taking into account his
placement in the merit list, the reservation of posts or such other requirements as may be laid down by statutory
orders or rules issued by the Central Government, from time to time, in this regard.
7. Liability to pass typewriting test. – The candidates, who are appointed to the Assistant Section Officers'
Grade on the basis of this examination, shall be required to pass a test in typewriting, if not already done, at a
minimum speed of 35 words per minute in English or 30 words per minute in Hindi only on computer (35
w.p.m and 30 w.p.m. correspond to 10500 KDPH/9000 KDPH on an average of 5 key depressions for each
word) within a period of one year from the date of their appointment, failing which no annual increments shall
be allowed to them until they have passed the said test or exempted under the relevant rules with the approval
of Competent Authority.
8. Removal of name from merit list on resignation, etc. - (1) In case a candidate after appearing at the
examination resigns from the service or whose services are terminated or who is appointed to an ex-cadre post
or to any other service and does not have a lien on any post mentioned in rule 3, his name shall not be included
in the merit list, or if included in the said merit list shall be struck off therefrom.
(2) Where a candidate, whose name is included in the said merit list, is appointed to an ex-cadre post or is
transferred to another Department of the Central Government with the permission of the appointing authority
and continue to have a lien on any post mentioned in rule 3, shall not be appointed as Assistant Section Officer
till he resumes the duties in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on his initial post during
the period the merit list remains in force:
Provided that his claim for proforma promotion may be considered by the appointing authority in
accordance with the orders and rules of the Central Government, issued in this behalf from time to time.
9. Penalty for impersonation or other misconduct. A candidate, who is or has been declared by the
appointing authority to be guilty of –
(i) obtaining support for his candidature by any means; or
(ii) impersonation; or
(iii) procuring impersonation by any person; or
(iv) submitting fabricated documents or documents which have been tampered with; or
(v) making statements which are incorrect or false or suppressing material information; or
(vi) resorting to any other irregular or improper means in connection with his candidature for the
examination; or
(vii) using unfair means in the examination hall; or
(viii) misbehaving in the examination hall; or
(ix) attempting to commit or, as the case may be, abetting the Ministry of all or any of the acts specified
in clauses (i) to (viii);
may, in addition to the criminal proceedings, liable
(a) to be disqualified by the appointing authority from the examination; or
(b) to disciplinary action, under the appropriate rules:
Provided that no penalty under this rule shall be imposed except after-
(i) giving the candidate an opportunity of making such representation in writing as he may wish to make
in that behalf; and
(ii) taking the representation, if any submitted by the candidate within the period allowed to him, into
consideration.
10. Power to relax. – Where the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient to do so,
it may, by order and for reasons to be recorded in writing, relax any of the provisions of these rules with
respect to any class or category of persons.
11. Saving. - Nothing in these rules shall affect reservation, relaxation of age-limit and other concession required
to be provided for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward classes, the Ex-servicemen
and other special categories of persons, in accordance with the orders issued by the Central Government from
time to time in this regard.
SCHEDULE
(See rule 4)
The examination shall be conducted in the following two parts, namely: -
Part I
1. Written examination shall carry a maximum of 400 marks. The subject of the written examination, the
maximum marks allotted to each paper and the time limit allowed shall be as follows, namely: -
+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) |
| Paper | Subject | Type of | Maximum | Time |
| No. | | Paper | Marks | |
+=======+================================================================================================================+==============+================+==========+
| I | Noting and Drafting, Precis Writing. | Descriptive | 100 | 2 hours |
+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| II | Procedure and Practice in the Government of India Secretariat and Attached Offices. The Sexual Harassment of | Objective | 100 | 2 hours |
| | Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and e-office. | | | |
+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| III | General Knowledge of the Constitution of India and Machinery of Government Practice and Procedure in Lok Sabha | Objective | 100 | 2 hours |
| | and Rajya Sabha. | | | |
+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
| IV | General Awareness. | Objective | 100 | 2 hours |
+-------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------------+----------------+----------+
2. Syllabus for examination:
A. Paper-I
Noting, Drafting and Precis Writing. - Candidates to prepare notes and drafts on specific problems,
a passage may also be set for making out a precis or summary.
B. Paper-II
Procedure and Practice in the Government of India Secretariat and Attached Offices. - This is intended
to be intensive and detailed test in methods and procedure of work in the Government of India Secretariat
and attached offices. The subject will cover – (1) Manual of office procedure (latest edition) (2) Notes on
office procedure issued by the Institute of Secretarial Training and Management (3) Handbook of orders
regarding use of Hindi for official purpose of the Union issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances & Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training (4) The Sexual harassment of Women at
Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and (5) e-office.
C. Paper-III
General Knowledge of the Constitution of India and Machinery of Government, Practice and
Procedure in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. – This paper is designed to test the candidate's knowledge of
the Constitution of India, Machinery of Government and Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the
Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
D. Paper-IV
General Awareness. - Question will be aimed at testing the candidate's knowledge of general awareness
about the Indian Constitution, Indian Geography, Culture, Economic Scene, General Policy, Scientific
research and National and International Current Affairs.
3. Penalty for wrong answers (in Objective Type Papers). - There will be penalty (Negative Marking) for
wrong answers marked by a candidate in the objective question papers as under-
(i) There will be four alternatives for the answer to every question and for each question for which a wrong
answer has been given by the candidate, one-fourth (0.25) of the marks assigned to that question will
be deducted as penalty.
(ii) If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of the
given answers happens to be correct and there will be same penalty as above for that question.
(iii) If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that
question.
4. Candidates are allowed the option to answer the Paper-I Noting and Drafting, Precis writing either in Hindi
(Devanagari) or in English. Paper-II, III and IV are also allowed the option to answer either in Hindi or in
English. All the four question papers or test booklets will be set both in Hindi and English.
Note 1: Candidates desirous of exercising the option to answer the Noting and Drafting, Precis Writing paper
in Hindi (Devnagari) should indicate their intention to do so in the application form otherwise it would be
assumed that they would answer the aforesaid paper in English. The option once exercised shall be treated as
final and no request for change shall be entertained later on. No credit shall be given for examination taken in a
language other than the one opted for by the candidate.
Note 2: Candidates exercising the option to answer the paper in Hindi (Devanagari) may, if they so desire, give
English version within brackets of the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the Hindi version.
Note 3: If a medium other than the one indicated by the candidate in the application form is used to write the
answer in the examination, the paper of such candidates will not be evaluated.
5. The minimum qualifying marks in each of the four subjects in Part I should be thirty-five per cent, and
aggregate marks should be forty-five per cent.
6. Marks will not be allotted for mere superficial knowledge.
7. Deduction upto 5 percent. of the maximum marks in the descriptive paper will be made for illegible
handwriting.
8. Credit will be given for neat and methodical expression of ideas with due economy of words, in the
descriptive paper.
9. The decision of the Central Government with regard to the acceptance of the application of a candidate and
his eligibility or otherwise for admission to the examination shall be final.
10. Appearance of candidates in all the four papers is a must for qualifying in the examination.
11. Candidates should use only international form of Indian numerals (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.) while answering
paper-I.
Part II
1. Assessment of Annual Performance Appraisal Reports:-
(a) This part shall carry a maximum of 100 marks.
(b) The Annual Performance Appraisal Reports of the candidates shall be scrutinised for the service
period reckoned for promotion and marks will be accordingly allotted by the Departmental Promotion
Committee.
(c) The minimum qualifying marks in the Annual Performance Appraisal Reports of each year during
the residency period will not be lower than the benchmark prescribed for promotion to the post of Assistant
Section Officer.
2. The Departmental Promotion Committee referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph 1 shall consist of the
following person, namely:-
(1) Scientist 'F', STQC Directorate, Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology
- Chairperson;
(2) The Joint Director or Deputy Director or equivalent level officer, STQC
Directorate, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- Member;
(3) One Under Secretary or Deputy Director or equivalent level officer,
from a Ministry or a Department other than STQC Directorate, Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology
- Member.
[F. No. 02(07)/2025-PA (TA)]
M. VELLAIPANDI, Director General
Uploaded by Dte. of Printing at Government of India Press, Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi-110064
and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054.
Login to read full text