Railway Board: Assistant Director (Rajbhasha) rules revised

The Ministry of Railways has revised the recruitment rules for Assistant Director (Rajbhasha), designated Assistant Director (Official Language) in English, at the Railway Board. Notification G.S.R. 974(E), dated 3 November 2026, provides for appointment by promotion and, if that route cannot fill the post, by deputation. It preserves a shorter qualifying-service requirement for existing regular Senior Translation Officers.

The notification appears in the Gazette of India issue dated 5 November 2026. The Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), (Group ‘A’ posts in Official Language), Recruitment (Amendment) Rules, 2026 state that they take effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

The ministry has replaced the schedule entry for this post in its 2019 recruitment rules. The replacement lists 11 posts for 2026, subject to variation according to workload, at Level-10 of the pay matrix, carrying a pay range of Rs 56,100 to Rs 1,77,500. That is the number of posts specified in the rules, not an announcement of 11 vacancies open for applications.

Promotion eligibility and protection for existing officers

Under the ministry’s revised schedule, the promotion route is available to Senior Translation Officers in the Railway Board’s Official Language Cadre with five years of regular service at Level-7. The notification gives that grade’s pay range as Rs 44,900 to Rs 1,42,400.

Eligible officers must also successfully complete six weeks of training covering all aspects of Official Language work, as specified by the Ministry of Railways. The schedule therefore makes both qualifying service and completion of the prescribed training conditions for promotion.

A separate provision protects officers already holding the feeder-grade post on a regular basis on the date of notification. A feeder grade is the lower post from which officers become eligible for promotion. For these Senior Translation Officers, the ministry’s notification says the qualifying service will continue to be three years rather than five.

The protection expressly concerns the length of qualifying service. The notification does not state that officers covered by it are exempt from the training requirement.

The ministry has also included a provision for seniors whose juniors become eligible first. When juniors who have completed the required service are considered for promotion, their seniors must also be considered if their service shortfall does not exceed half the qualifying period or two years, whichever is less.

Those seniors must have successfully completed their probation, the initial period before confirmation, for consideration for promotion alongside their eligible juniors. This provision concerns eligibility to be considered; it does not direct automatic promotion.

The revised schedule classifies Assistant Director (Official Language) as a selection post in the Indian Railways Service, Group ‘A’, Gazetted, Ministerial category. It specifies a two-year probation period.

Deputation is the fallback route

The ministry’s schedule places deputation after promotion, rather than presenting the two as interchangeable recruitment options. Deputation means an appointment from another cadre or department for a specified period.

The notification makes this route available to officers in Official Language cadres under the Central Government, state governments or Union Territory administrations. They must hold an analogous, or equivalent, post regularly in their parent cadre or department, or meet one of the listed service conditions at a lower pay level.

Those alternatives are two years of service following regular appointment at Level-9, four years at Level-8, or five years at Level-7. The notification lists the respective pay ranges as Rs 53,100 to Rs 1,67,800; Rs 47,600 to Rs 1,51,100; and Rs 44,900 to Rs 1,42,400.

The ministry has kept the promotion and deputation channels separate for departmental candidates. Officers in the feeder category who are directly in line for promotion cannot be considered for appointment on deputation. Conversely, deputationists cannot be considered for appointment through promotion under this provision.

According to the notification, the deputation period should ordinarily not exceed three years. This limit includes any immediately preceding deputation in another ex-cadre post, meaning a post outside the officer’s own cadre, in the same or another Central Government organisation or department.

The maximum age for appointment on deputation is 56 years on the closing date for receipt of applications, the ministry’s rules state.

UPSC consultation and departmental scrutiny

The revised rules require consultation with the Union Public Service Commission for promotion. They also specify the membership of the departmental promotion committee, the body that considers eligible officers.

Under the notification, the UPSC chairperson or a member of the commission will chair the Group ‘A’ departmental promotion committee. The Secretary, Railway Board, and the Executive Director Establishment (Reservation), Railway Board, will serve as members.

A separate committee will consider confirmation. The ministry’s schedule places the Secretary, Railway Board, in the chair, with the Executive Director Establishment (Reservation) and Director (Official Language), Railway Board, as members.

The notification invokes the proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution as the authority for making the amendment. It identifies the original recruitment rules as having been published through G.S.R. 363(E), dated 14 May 2019, and substitutes the entry for Assistant Director rather than replacing the entire schedule.

For recruitment purposes, the ministry marks the columns for direct-recruit age limits and educational qualifications as not applicable. The amended entry provides no direct-recruitment channel. It sets the framework for filling the post but does not announce an application deadline or a recruitment timetable.