West Bengal Civil Service

West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) officers, popularly known as WBCS officers, are civil servants of the state of West Bengal, India. They come to the service either on promotion from feeder services or directly. For the feeder services and WBCS (Exe)and other comparative posts Public Service Commission of West Bengal arranges competitive examinations in three phases every year. These phases are Preliminary, Main and Interview. There are different groups in recruitment of such examination based on choice and merit of scored number. These are Group A, Group B (only for W.B. Police Service), Group C and Group D. The WBCS (Exe) officers belong to Group A and is the only State Civil Service of West Bengal. In general, the candidates with higher scores opt for WBCS (Exe) officer. But records show that very often toppers and top scorers are preferring Commercial Tax Services over Wbcs (exe) as to be blunt, the service is less hazardous. Other officers of Group A, in the structure of Public Service Commission, are also popularly but mistakenly referred to as WBCS officers . All other officers recruited by WBCS (Exe) etc. belong to the Excise, Cooperation, Labour, Commercial Tax under Finance Department etc. which are individual services and their scope is limited to their own departments only. Generally in administration they are called line departmental officers. On the other side WBCS (Exe) officers directly serve in the public administration and they enjoy wide scopes in various departments including PSUs and central deputation. There is no difference in starting pay scale amongst the line department officers and WBCS (Exe) officers, however, due to versatility, challenging nature of the job and direct bearing to administration WBCS (Exe) officers, enjoy a quantum leap after 8 years of service, with two additional increments and an automatic promotion to the rank of Dy. Secretary. This is in addition to much more power and much experiences gathered in their colourful service life. But it is also true that many candidates are choosing line services like Commercial Tax Service over WBCS(Exe) as these services provide the scope of posting in and around the city and believed to be less strenuous and challenging or politically impeded or interfered. In the line Departments they may rise to the post of Deputy Commissioner and then to Joint Commissioner rank upto the rank of Additional & Special Commissioners. Record shows that many WBCS Group B police or WBCS (Exe) posted elsewhere as allied service officer have undertaken exam to switch over to Commercial Tax Service or Stamp Revenue service, to avoid the stressful and challenging nature of Civil or police Service.

The WBCS (Exe) officers are usually appointed as deputy magistrates or deputy collectors on probation and after completion of two years of mandatory administrative training under the tutelage of ATI, start their career as Block Development Officers. They also pass order in Executive Magistrate Court and deal some sections of Criminal Procedure Code. The officers of the cadre perform the key administrative functions at different levels of various departments of the state. The highest position WBCS (Exe) officers can attain is that of Depratmental secretary. Three posts of district magistrate in the State of West Bengal is reserved for these officers. Recently WBCS(Exe) officers have also been posted as chairpersons of constitutiona bodies like State Election Commission, Public Service Commission etc. Of all State Civil Services of India, only WBCS (Executive) officers enjoy promotion to such high ranks, apart from the Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra State executive officers. This is due to the traditionally important and crucial roles that these States played during the British Raj. This situation can be compared to that played by the Prussian Civil Service (PCS) and Bavarian Civil Service officers within post-1871 Imperial Germany. All the key policy making an implementing posts are manned by IAS and WBCS (Exe) officers./= However, WBCS (Exe) officers may also be nominated at a later stage of their career to become All India Services (IAS) officers.

The current career span of WBCS (Exe) officer is: 2 years on probation, followed by 3–4 years as Block Development Officer. Then posted as Dy. Magistrate & Dy. Collectors in district hqs or Sub Divisions or in special postings like Dy. Commissioners/Dy. Directors etc. in PSUs/bodies/agencies etc. Upon completion of 8 years of service and subject to mandatory conditions they attain the rank of Dy. Secretary to the Government. SDM postings follow after 12–13 years and 3 years thereafter they are posted as Addl. District Magistrates or on parallel postings as Jt. Secretaries/Directors in departments. This is followd by postings like Spl.Secretaries/Secreataries etc.

WBCS Group C and D posts are as follows: Group – C : (a) Joint Block Development Officer (b) Deputy Assistant Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Business Practices (c) West Bengal Junior Social Welfare Service (d) Assistant Canal Revenue Officer (Irrigation) (e) West Bengal Subordinate Land Revenue Service, Grade - I (f) Assistant Commercial Tax Officer (g) Chief Controller of Correctional Services Group – D : (a) Inspector of Co-operative Societies (b) Panchayat Development Officer under the Panchayat and Rural Development Department (c) Rehabilitation Officer under the Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Department.

Special Condition for:

(a) West Bengal Police Service (Group 'B' Service) – The minimum required height for male candidates is 1.65 meters and 1.50 meters for female candidates belonging to Gorkhas, Garwalis, Assamese, Tribals etc. Candidates intending to be considered for this Group must indicate their height in appropriate column of the application form.
(b) Assistant Canal Revenue Officer – They will have to work in remote areas and their jurisdiction will cover a large number of villages. They will also be required to attend Tahsil and Zilla Offices for which they may have only cycles as the means of transport and to face and tackle general public.
(c) West Bengal Junior Social Welfare Service – For service in the Homes for the Blind and /or Deaf and Dumb, a degree or diploma or certificate in the training of Blind and / or Deaf and Dumb shall be an essential qualification. Any person not possessing the above qualification may be appointed in these Homes on condition that he / she will have to receive in service training for teaching of the Blind and / or Deaf and Dumb. Male candidates will be unsuitable for the posts meant for institutions for females, and female candidates unsuitable for the posts meant for institutions for males.
(d) West Bengal subordinate Land Revenue Service, Grade : I – No person shall be appointed to the service unless he has good working knowledge of the Bengali Language, written and spoken (candidates whose mother tongue is Nepali shall be exempted from this requirement, but will be required to pass, within a period of two years a departmental examination in Bengali). Selected candidates for West Bengal Subordinate land Revenue Service, Grade-I shall be appointed provisionally and shall undergo a period of six months in – service training during which they will draw the initial of the scale of pay and allowances as admissible. The training shall include subjects such as Cadastral survey, Preparation of records-of-rights, Revenue Laws, Elementary instructions in all other laws relevant for the service. Incumbents who do not apply themselves to the in-service training with due diligence or fail to pass the end of Training Examination shall be liable to be discharged with notice. The period of training may also be extended in special circumstances.

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