The Imperial Secretariat Service (commonly abbreviated as the ISS) was a

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

during British rule in the period between 1919 and 1945. The members served in the 5 central departments (1924 to 1934) and then later expanded to 10 central departments at that time, Secretariat of the

Viceroy's Executive Council The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...

and later Cabinet Secretariat and Central Secretariat. The service was one of the "Imperial Services" with the

Imperial Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

Indian Imperial Police The Indian Imperial Police, referred to variously as the Imperial Police or simply the Indian Police or, by 1905, Imperial Police, was part of the Indian Police Services, the uniform system of police administration in British Raj, as established by ...

, and Imperial Forest Service of the Indian Government under the British colonial rule in India. This service still continues in the contemporary

Civil Services of India The Civil Services refer to the career government civil servants who are the permanent executive branch of the Republic of India. Elected cabinet ministers determine policy, and civil servants carry it out. Central Civil Servants are employee ...

Central Superior Services The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority, and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Bangladesh Civil Service Bangladesh Civil Service ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সিভিল সার্ভিস ), more popularly known by its acronym BCS, is the civil service of Bangladesh. Civil service in the Indian subcontinent originated from the Imperial ...

, though these are now organised differently post-independence. It is an earliest organised civil service.

Civil Service

History

The role of the service was ensuring of the continuity of administration in the Central Secretariat called as the “Administration of the Secretariat and House Keeping”. In the year 1919, the Imperial Secretariat Service came into being as one of the offshoots of the Lewllyn-Smith Committee which had been set up on the eve of the introduction of the

Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms or more briefly known as the Mont–Ford Reforms, were introduced by the colonial government to introduce self-governing institutions gradually in British India. The reforms take their name from Edwin Montagu, th ...

. As per Report of Government of India Secretariat Procedure Committee 1919, the general status of this service was recognised as equivalent to that of Provincial Civil Service (PCS) and that all members treated as gazetted officers. The posts of Assistant, Assistant Secretary, Under Secretary were filled by officers drawn from the Imperial Secretariat Service during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. In 1946, after India gained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

from Britain, the Imperial Secretariat Service was replaced by Central Secretariat Service in India. However, in Pakistan, a Central Secretariat Service was formed in Central Superior Services of Pakistan, which was later replaced and renamed to Office Management Group (OMG) and Secretariat Group (SG).

Recruitment

The recruitment of the members was made by Central Staff Selection Board, which was precursor of the

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India. It is responsible for appointments to and exami ...

set up in 1926. As per Report of Government of India Secretariat Procedure Committee 1919, it was suggested that Staff Selection Board should recruit from the main sections of the community namely

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...

and Anglo-Indian. All candidates chosen by examination were given probation for a year before their appointment in the Secretariat by a definite certificate of confirmation by the Secretary in the Department.

Salary and posts

* Central Government ** Under Secretary to Government of India ** Assistant Secretary to Government of India ** Assistant

References

{{Reflist Indian Civil Service