New Delhi (08.11.2022): The New Delhi establishment on Monday approved the much debated and long-awaited list of empanelment, under the newly created IRMS Cadre, for holding GM Railways’ post (Level-16, ex-cadre HAG+). The notification was issued on Monday late evening. These posts are equivalent to Special Secretary to the Government of India. Subsequent to the empanelment, they would be posted as GMs.

Accordingly, eight officers were empanelled and subsequently posted as General Managers (GM) of zonal railways and other units (whereas the empanelment of four officers was deferred whom DPC had recommended.) A total of 122 officers remained out of the consideration zone.  

The list of newly empanelled and posted GMs goes as follows:

1. Roop N Sunker (IRSE:1985)- GM, East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar, (DoR: 31.12.2023).
2. Satish Kumar (IRSME:1986)- GM, North Central Railway, Prayagraj, (DoR: 31.12.2024).
3. Arun Kumar Jain (IRSSE:1986)- GM, South Central Railway, Secunderabad, (DoR: 30.06.2025).
4. Ashok Kumar Mishra (IRSME:1986)- GM, Western Railway, Mumbai, (DoR: 30.06.2025).
5. Naveen Gulati (IRSEE:1986)- GM, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, (DoR: 30.09.2025).
6. C.V. Raman (lRSS:1986)- GM, North Eastern Railway, Gorakhpur, (DoR: 30.09.2025).
7. Braj Mohan Agarwal (IRSME:1986)- GM, Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareli, (DoR: 30.04.2026).
8. R.N. Singh (IRSE:1986)- GM, Southern Railway, Chennai, (DoR: 31.07.2026).

Further, the empanelment of four officers, recommended by DPC, deferred include; Manoj Sharma (IRSE), Naresh Lalwani (IRSE), B.G. Mallya (IRSEE) and Jaya Verma Sinha (IRTS).

It may be underlined that two GMs were moved on a lateral basis. A.K. Agarwal (GM, ICF, Chennai) was laterally transferred and posted at Rail Wheel Factory (RWF), Yelahanka whereas Pramod Kumar (GM, North Central Railway) was laterally transferred and posted as GM, Central Organization for Railway Electrification (CORE), Prayagraj.

SALIENT FEATURES THAT DEFINE THE EMPANELMENT & POSTING LIST:

• Only eight were selected from 130 eligible officers for the coveted posts.
• Of the eight officers, three are from mechanical, two from civil engineering, and the rest from stores, signalling and electrical services.
• None of the officers from the civil services has found a place in the much-awaited posting order.
• Even though officers from the 1983 batch onwards had applied for selection-based empanelment but only one from 1985 and the rest of all seven belonging to the 1986 batch made a cut in the list.
• Of eight organised Group-A services (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Traffic, Accounts, Personnel, Signal and Stores) IRTS (Traffic), IRAS (Accounts) and IRPS (Personnel) are officers inducted through the civil services examination, while the remaining services are taken from engineering services examination.
• The selection process instituted by the Railways Ministry was framed on the basis of merit, abolishing seniority-based posting.
• While the posting was done by the ACC headed by the Prime Minister, the selection process for empanelment followed self-assessment, multi-source assessment (peers, seniors, etc), along with annual confidential reports of the officers.
• The Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), which recommended the officers to the ACC for empanelment, consisted of Secretary DOP&T, Chairman & CEO Railway Board, and one non-railway officer.
• The newly conceived system claims to end “departmentalism” in Railways.
• The government instituted this new system in May this year to give a level-playing field to all officers based on merit, and not on the basis of age-based seniority.
• A section of retired veteran IAS officers, while interacting with Indianmandarins on the much-debated, long-awaited list, underlined that there is no such system/mechanism that can stay away from criticism but fundamentals of evaluation and mandate of DPC do not allow to ignore seniority. Even UPSC or any other such institution give weightage to seniority which itself is decided by the experience and competence besides others.