(Notification) Grade “C‟ Stenographers Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, 2025

NOTICE:

No. 4/2/2025-CONF-5: The Staff Selection Commission will hold a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination on (to be intimated later) at Delhi only for making additions to the Select List of Grade “C‟ Stenographers of the following Services/ Cadres:-

Sl. No.	Name of Service/Cadre/Organization
1	Central Secretariat Stenographers Services
2	Election Commission of India Stenographers Service (ECI)
3	Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers Service (M/o Railways)
4	Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers Service (AFHQ)
5	Indian Foreign Service Branch(B)Stenographers (M/o External Affairs)
6	Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)

Tentative vacancies for the recruitment year, 2025

Sr.No.	Name of Service/Cadre	UR	SC	ST	PwBD	Total
1.	Central Secretariat Stenographers Services	195	48	24	11	267
2.	Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers Service	03	02	03	01* (OH-OA, OL)	08
3.	Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers Service	21	09	07	04**	37
4.	Election Commission of India Stenographers Service	00	00	01	00	01
5.	Indian Foreign Service Branch(B) Stenographers	11	01	01	1(OH),1(HH)	13
6.	Central Vigilance Commission	To be intimated later

Education Qualification & Age Limit :

Name of the Service/Cadre

Crucial date for Counting of approved service

Conditions of Eligibility

Central Secretariat Stenographers Service(CSSS)

For the year,2025-

1st day of July,

2025 (01.07.2025)

(1) Any regularly appointed Stenographer Grade “D‟ of the Service who satisfies the following conditions shall be eligible to appear at the examination:-

(A) Length of Service:-He/ She should have on the crucial date, rendered not less than six years’ approved service as Stenographer Grade “D‟.

Note:-Stenographers Grade “D‟ who are on deputation to ex-cadre post with the approval of the competent authority, and those having a lien in Stenographer Grade “D‟ of the service will be eligible to be admitted to the examination, if otherwise eligible.

Provided that if the official had been appointed to Stenographer Grade ”D‟ of the Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service on the results of the Competitive Examination, including a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, the results of such examination should have been announced not less than six years before the crucial date and the official should have rendered not less than five years’ approved and continuous service in that grade.

Relaxation for DR Steno Gr D of Select List Year (SLY) 2018:

As per Order No. 6/2/2024-CS.II(C) dated 29.07.2025 of DoPT following relaxations in the eligibility conditions in respect of DR Steno Gr D of SLY 2018 has been provided to enable them to participate in this examination:

(i) One year in approved service

(ii) One year and five months in duration between date of result and crucial date

(iii) Up to One year and six months in continuous service

(B)Computer Literacy– Any Stenographer Grade “D‟ appearing in the Limited Departmental Competitive examination for promotion to Personal Assistant shall be required to transcribe his/ her shorthand notes on Computers.

Indian Foreign Service Branch(B) Stenographers Service

For the year,2025-

1st day of July,2025 (01.07.2025)

Eligibility criteria as per IFS Branch “B‟Rules, 2017-

The candidates should have rendered not less than six years approved service and undergone and successfully completed such mandatory training programme (s) as may be prescribed by the Ministry of External Affairs:

Provided that eligibility service for the above purpose shall continue to be five years approved service for persons

holding Stenographer Grade ‘D’ posts on regular basis before the date of commencement of these rules.

Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers Service

For the year,2025-

1st day of July,2025 (01.07.2025)

He/ she should have on the crucial date, rendered not less than three years’ approved and continuous service in Grade–‘D’ of the Service.

Provided that if he/ she had been appointed to Grade– ‘D’ of the Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers’ Service on the result of the competitive examination including of Limited Departmental Competitive examination, the result of such examination should have been announced not less than three years (3 years) before the crucial date and the candidate should have rendered not less than 2 years Approved and continuous service in that Grade.

Stenographers Grade “D‟ who are on deputation to ex- cadre post with the approval of the competent authority, and those having a lien in Stenographer Grade “D‟ of the service will be eligible to be admitted to the examination, if otherwise eligible.

Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers Service

For the year,

2025-

1st day of July,

2025 (01.07.2025)

(1) Any regularly appointed Stenographer Grade “D‟ of the Service who satisfies the following conditions shall be eligible to appear at the examination:-

(a) Length of Service:- The candidate on the crucial date, should have rendered not less than six years’ approved service as Stenographer Grade “D‟.

Note: Stenographers Grade”D‟ who are on deputation to ex-cadre posts with the approval of the competent authority, and those having a lien in Stenographer Grade ”D‟ of the Service will be eligible to be admitted to the examination, if otherwise eligible.

Provided that if the official had been appointed to Stenographer Grade ”D” of the Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers’ Service on the results of the competitive examination, the results of such examination should have been announced not less than six years before the crucial date and the officer should have rendered not less than five years’ approved and continuous service in that grade:

Provided further that eligibility service shall continue to be three years’ of approved service for officials holding Stenographer Grade ‘D’ posts on regular basis before the date of commencement of the Rules.

(b) Computer Literacy– Any Stenographer Grade “D‟ appearing in the Limited Departmental Competitive examination for promotion to Personal Assistant shall be required to transcribe his/ her shorthand notes on Computers.

Election Commission of India Stenographers Service

For the year,2025-1st day of July,2025 (01.07.2025)

He/ she should have on the crucial date, rendered not less than three years’ approved and continuous service in Grade–‘D’ of the Service from or after the appointed day.

Provided that if he/ she had been appointed to the Grade–‘D’ of the Election Commission of India Stenographers’ Service on the result of the competitive examination including Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, the result of such examination should have been announced not less than three years (3 years) before the crucial date and the candidate should have rendered not less than 2 years approved and continuous service in the Grade.

Stenographers Grade ”D‟ who are on deputation to ex-cadre posts with the approval of the competent authority, and those having a lien in Stenographer Grade ”D‟ of the Service will be eligible to be admitted to the examination, if otherwise eligible.

Central Vigilance Commission

For the year,2025-

1st day of July,2025 (01.07.2025)

Five years of regular service in the grade of Stenographer Grade ‘D’ in the Commission after appointment thereto as on crucial /cut-off date.

Scheme of Examination:

The details of computer based examination are mentioned below –

PART-A:

[COMPUTER BASED EXAMINATION (200 MARKS)]

Subject	No. of Questions	Max. Marks	Time Allowed
General Awareness	100	100	2 Hours (2 hours and 40 minutes for the candidates Eligible for scribe As per Para-36 (a),36(b) & 36 (c)
Comprehension and Knowledge of English Language	100	100

ii. Question paper will be of Objective Type Multiple Choice only. The questions will be set both in English & Hindi. However, the questions on “Comprehension and Knowledge of English Language‟ will be set in English only.

iii. There will be negative marking of 0.25 marks for each wrong answer in the examination.

iv. Questions relating to General awareness will be set both in Hindi and English. There will be no Question Paper in Braille for Visually Handicapped candidates.

v. Tentative Answer Keys of Computer Based Examination will be placed on the website of the Commission after the Examination. Candidates may go through the Answer Keys and submit online representations, if any, within the time limit given by the Commission, on payment of Rs. 50/- per question which is non-refundable. Representations on the matter received through any other modality i.e., letter, application, email, etc. will not be entertained. Representation regarding the Answer Keys will be scrutinized before finalizing the Answer Keys and the decision of the Commission in this regard will be final.

vi. There shall be no provision for re-evaluation/ re-checking of scores of any stage/ paper(s) of the Examination. No correspondence in this regard shall be entertained.

vii. The schedule of examination indicated in the Notice is tentative. Any change in the schedule of examination will be informed to candidates only through the website of the Commission.

Syllabus :

Comprehension and Knowledge of English Language:-

Questions will be designed to test the candidate’s understanding and knowledge of English language, Vocabulary, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, synonyms, antonyms, sentence completion, phrases and idiomatic use of words etc. There will be question on comprehension of a passage also.

General Awareness

Question will be aimed at testing the candidate’s General Awareness of the environment around him and its application to society. Questions will also be designed to test knowledge of current events and of such matters of every day observations and experience in their scientific aspect as may be expected of any educated person. The test will also include questions relating to India and its neighboring countries especially pertaining to History, Culture, Geography, Economics, Science, General Polity and Scientific research.

PART B:

[SHORT HAND SKILL TEST IN HINDI OR IN ENGLISH (200 MARKS)]

i) Stenography Skill Test: Unless exempted from passing the Stenography test for the purpose of confirmation or continuance in Grade ”D‟/ Grade-III of the Central Secretariat Stenographers Services (CSSS)/ Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers Service/ Indian Foreign Service Branch (B) Stenographers/ Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers Service/ Election Commission of India Stenographers Service/ Central Vigilance Commission, they should have passed the test on or before the date of notification of the examination.

ii) Only those candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the Computer based Examination as may be fixed by the Commission in their discretion will be called for Stenography test.

iii) Candidates must indicate their medium for taking Stenography Test at relevant column of the online application form. The medium once mentioned shall be treated as final and no requests for alteration in the medium shall ordinarily be entertained.

iv) The candidates who are shortlisted in the Computer Based Examination will be required to appear in the Skill Test for Stenography. The candidates will be given one dictation for 10 minutes in English or Hindi (as opted by the candidates in the online Application Form) at the speed of 100 words per minute (w.p.m.) for the post of Stenographer Grade ”C‟. The matter will have to be transcribed on computer. The transcription time is as follows:

S. No.	Post	Language of Skill Test	Time Duration (in minutes)	Time Duration (in minutes) for the candidates eligible for scribe as per Para- 36(a),36(b)& 36(c)
1.	Stenographer Grade ”C‟	English	40	55
2.	Stenographer Grade ”C‟	Hindi	55	75

Mode of Selection :

i. Only those candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the Computer based Examination as may be fixed by the Commission in their discretion will be called for Stenography test.

ii. The Commission will fix category-wise qualifying standards in the Skill Test. The candidates who qualify the Skill Test will be considered for final selection on the basis of their merit in the Computer Based Examination, skill test and APAR evaluation.

iii. After the examination, the names of finally selected candidates will be arranged by the Commission, in separate lists, for the participating Cadres/ Services in the order of merit along with the aggregate marks finally awarded to each candidate so that candidates who are found by the Commission to be qualified in the examination shall be recommended for inclusion in the Select lists of Central Secretariat Stenographers Services (CSSS)/ Railway Board Secretariat Stenographers Service/ Indian Foreign Service Branch (B) Stenographers/ Armed Forces Headquarters Stenographers Service/ Election Commission of India Stenographers Service/ Central Vigilance Commission up to the required number of vacancies.

iv. Provided that the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or Persons with Benchmark Disability shall, to the extent of the number of vacancies reserved for the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes, be recommended by the Commission by a relaxed standard, subject to the fitness of these candidates for selection to the service.

v. Provided that the candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or Persons with Benchmark Disability who have been recommended by the Commission without resorting to the relaxed standard referred to in this sub rule, shall not be adjusted against the vacancies reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

vi. Selection to the Grade “C‟ Stenographer in different services/cadres shall be made to the extent of the available vacancies in order of merit subject to the reservation for candidates of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, in accordance with the orders issued from time to time by the Central Government in the Department of Personnel and Training.

How to Apply:

All candidates who wish to apply in response to this Notice and have not generated their One Time Registration (OTR) on the new website (https://ssc.gov.in) will be required to do so as the earlier OTR generated on the old website (https://ssc.nic.in) will not be functional for the new website. Subsequent to OTR, the candidates can proceed to fill the application for the examination. Once an OTR has been generated on the new website, it will continue to remain valid for all the examinations to be applied for on the new website.

Candidates seeking admission to the examination must apply online on the website of Staff Selection Commission; i.e. https://ssc.gov.in. The process of filling online Application Form for the examination consists of two parts:
i. One Time Registration
ii. Filling of online Application for the Examination.

Candidates should submit only one application form in response to this Notice. Submission of multiple applications may lead to rejection of the candidature.

IMP DATES :

Dates for submission of online applications	22.12.2025 To 11.01.2026
Last date and time for receipt of online applications	11.01.2026 (2300hours)
Schedule of Computer Based Examination	To be intimated later