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INTRODUCTION CHAPTER- 1

1.1. The prime objective of all public service is to meet the citizens’ needs and to
further enhance their welfare. At the same time, those who are accountable for the
conduct of that business have to ensure that public resources are managed with
utmost care and prudence, as per the laws and the laid down rules & procedures. It
is, therefore, necessary in each case to keep appropriate record not only of what has
been done but also of why was so done.

1.2. The efficiency of Government to a large extent depends on evolution of
adequate processes and procedures and ability of its functionaries to follow them.
Accordingly, the efficiency of persons handling information in a Department is judged
by their ability to dispose of issues with speed and quality following the procedures
prescribed for the purpose. To achieve the twin objectives of efficiency and speed
for public good, various Departments of the Government of India over the last
decade or so have taken a number of initiatives like introduction of eOffice system.

1.3. The procedures prescribed in this manual attempt to balance the conflicting
consideration of speed, quality, transparency and propriety. In a dynamic context,
this balance cannot be rigidly or permanently fixed.

1.4. In order to create awareness about these processes and practices especially
at the cutting edge level and to sensitize new entrants inducted at various levels in
the Central Secretariat, the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public
Grievances, as a nodal agency in the field of ‘Organisation & Methods’, has laid
down various procedures for performance of secretariat work by the functionaries in
various Ministries/Departments of the Government of India in the form of Central
Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP). The First Edition of the Central
Secretariat Manual of e-Office Procedure (CSMeOP), brought out in the year 2012,
was a step forward towards evolving a paperless environment of decision making
process while concurrently achieving speed and accuracy.

1.5. The procedures laid in earlier manuals (relating to physical paper work) have
been dovetailed with the new eOffice applications that aim at paperless office. The
procedures laid down in this new edition of manual have been adopted for use after
careful examination of methods and procedure followed in
Ministries/Departments/Offices in Government of India. While doing so the
organizational needs of operating functionaries at the initiating level have been the
primary concern. The Departments are expected to proactively adapt and to ensure
that their teams too switch over to the e-Office.

1.6. First published in March, 1955, CSMOP has been updated from time to time in
accordance with the changing scenario. This is the fifteenth revised edition in the

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