Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules, 2016: the complete guide

If you have been stuck in the same post for years because there is no promotion post above you, these are the rules that decide whether you still get a higher pay level. Explained in plain words, with the schedule tables, four worked examples and a calculator for your own dates.

What is ACP and who is covered?

The Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules, 2016 were notified by the Finance Department on 28 October 2016 (No. 1/20/2016(ACP)-5PR(FD)). They are deemed to have come into force on 1 January 2016 and go with the 7th Pay Commission pay matrix. The rules provide two kinds of ACP: cadre-specific ACP for some named cadres, and general ACP for everyone else.

The general scheme promises two things (rule 1(3)). Every employee gets at least three financial upgradations in the whole career, counting any pay benefit already received from functional promotion. And nobody stagnates for more than eight years without a financial upgradation, unless they have already had three. ACP is only a financial upgrade. You keep doing the same work and keep the same designation, so a clerk on ACP does not become an assistant. The money moves up, the post does not.

Who is covered (rule 2)

Persons appointed to civil services and posts in connection with the affairs of Haryana Government, under its administrative control, whose pay is charged to the Consolidated Fund of the State. Re-employed pensioners, including military pensioners, who draw pay in the existing pay structure are also covered, subject to revision of their pension from 1 January 2016. The rules do not apply to members of All India Services, officers of the judicial services, persons not in whole-time employment, and persons paid otherwise than monthly, including piece-rate, daily wage, contract and outsourced staff. A regular employee is covered. A contractual or HKRN worker or a daily wager is not.

Definitions you will actually use (rule 3)

Cadre-specific scheme and general scheme

The two schemes run side by side, and the years of service, pay level and conditions differ. Rule 4 says the ACP level shown in Part I of Schedule I is available to members of the cadres, posts or services listed there, whether they entered by direct recruitment or promotion, if they meet the conditions. Rule 5 says everyone whose cadre is not in Part I falls under the general scheme, where the first, second and third ACP levels in Part II of Schedule I are given by reference to the functional grade pay as on 1 January 2016.

If you have been promoted, rule 5 gives an important sentence: your entitled ACP level is the level corresponding to the functional grade pay, as on 1 January 2016, of the promotional post you hold. A clerk promoted to assistant is looked at again as an assistant, and the count of years restarts in the new post. To find your scheme, check the cadre list below. If your post is not named there, use the general matrix with your grade pay.

Eligibility at 8, 16 and 24 years (rule 7)

Whatever way you got your upgradations, ordinary ACP or promotion with an increment, the total for the career is three. If you are promoted (rule 7(4)), you are considered for the next ACP after 8 years of regular satisfactory service in the promotional post, with reference to the level of that post. A peon promoted as a clerk is reviewed after 8 and 16 years as clerk. The proviso says you get no ACP if you have already availed three financial upgradations of any kind. Someone first appointed to a lower post and later appointed to a higher post by direct recruitment or limited competition is also entitled to the full range of ACP, counted from the higher post.

What is "regular satisfactory service"?

Service is treated as satisfactory if no departmental or judicial proceedings are pending against you and there are no adverse remarks about integrity in your ACRs. A resignation made only to join another appointment, with the application sent through proper channel, is a technical formality and does not break your service.

What counts

1. Service on a regular basis from the date of joining a post in any Haryana Government department, by direct recruitment or otherwise.
2. Time on deputation or foreign service.
3. All kinds of leave duly sanctioned, except extraordinary leave taken without a medical certificate.
4. Move from one Haryana department to another: earlier service counts if the pay structure and the line of service of both posts are the same (engineering to engineering, yes; conductor to clerk, no). You will not be considered until you finish probation in the new post.
5. Deemed date of appointment or promotion that counts towards seniority.
6. Ad hoc promotion within the prescribed quota while you were on a regular basis and later regularised on the same post.
7. Service of surplus employees of Haryana departments, boards or corporations who were later adjusted elsewhere with pay protection.

What does not count

1. Service on ad hoc, contract, work-charged or daily wage basis followed by regularisation. A clerk who was a daily wager for four years starts the 8-year count from regularisation.
2. Past service when you were later appointed to a post in a lower or higher pay scale or structure.
3. Past service in any other State or Central Government. An employee from Punjab or the Centre starts again from the date of joining Haryana.
4. Military service before re-employment in civil service, other than emergency military service counted towards seniority.

What counts as a financial upgradation (explanation 2)

You can have three in a career, and promotion can use one up. These benefits count:

1. 1st, 2nd or 3rd ACP under the earlier HCS (ACP) Rules, 1998 or 2008.
2. Promotion with the benefit of the next stage or one increment or more in the promotional scale.
3. Promotion while drawing pay in an ACP structure at a stage below the minimum of the promotional scale, with fixation at the minimum with a benefit equal to or more than one increment.
4. Promotion before 1 January 1996 with the benefit of the next stage or more while drawing pay in a Higher Standard Pay Scale.
5. Higher Standard Pay Scale, if pay was fixed directly from it to the ACP scale of the 1998 rules.
6. Modification of pay level from a date after 1 January 2016.
7. Stepping up of an ACP scale or level, before or after 1 January 2016.
8. Selection Grade, but only if the employee was promoted to a higher scale while drawing pay in the selection grade of the feeder post.
9. Special entitlement under the 1998 or 2008 rules.
10. A 2nd ACP given directly at 16 years or more, which counts as two upgradations.

Not counted: additional increments at the 11th or 22nd stage or on 8 or 18 years of service in a Group C or D post; selection grade or Higher Standard Scale where pay was fixed in the functional scale when scales were generally revised; and promotions on an ex-cadre post for a limited period where the ex-cadre pay was not taken into account on reversion. Write down every pay benefit in your service book and compare it with these lists before you count.

General conditions: fitness, tests and charge sheets (rule 8)

Completing the years is not enough. After the required period you must be fit to be promoted to the next higher post in your cadre's hierarchy, and if that promotion needs a departmental test or a higher qualification, you must have it. The test and qualification condition does not apply to Group D employees where there is no promotional post other than one needing Matriculation or above.

• Note 1: if on the due date you are not fit for promotion because of pending departmental or judicial proceedings, you do not get ACP until you are declared fit. This also moves your later ACPs.
• Note 2: if ACP was denied because of one charge sheet and a second charge sheet is issued later, and the first is dropped meanwhile, you get ACP if it was otherwise admissible before the date the second charge sheet was issued.
• Note 3: ACP is granted from the first day of the month following the month you become eligible. A clerk completing 8 years on 4 August 2018 gets 1st ACP from 1 September 2018.
• Note 4: where there is no promotional post at all, ACP is granted on completing the prescribed service only.

Grant by order, duties and designation (rules 9 to 11)

On ACP you keep doing the duties of your previous post and keep the previous designation until you are promoted when a vacancy occurs (rule 9). Only the financial benefit changes. Other entitlements still depend on the post you hold (rule 10).

Rules 6, 7 and 8 give only the conditions. You are not placed in the ACP level automatically. The authority competent to grant promotion to the next post must pass an order (rule 11). Before it does, it must make sure the DPC, where there is one, has considered the case as for promotion; that the conditions are followed; that the number of upgradations is counted from the post where you were inducted as a direct recruit fresh entrant (ACP is not given if you have already availed three); and that other rules are complied with. The ACP level is effective from the first of the month following eligibility, not from the date of the order, but you can draw pay in the ACP level only after the order is issued, so arrears depend on the order being passed. Those already drawing pay in an ACP structure when the rules were notified need no fresh order.

The general ACP matrix (Schedule I, Part II)

Find your functional grade pay as on 1 January 2016 (or that of your promotional post), then read across. The figure in brackets is the grade pay the level corresponds to, and "Min. pay" is the minimum pay of that level. Your actual pay is worked out as in the pay fixation section below, not simply the minimum.

Each step normally moves you up by one or two levels. A clerk at grade pay 1900 goes to ACPL-4 at 8 years, ACPL-6 at 16 years and ACPL-7 at 24 years. The top rows run out of room: grade pay 9800 has only two steps, 10000 only one and the HAG scale none. The ACP level numbers follow the level numbers of the pay matrix in the Haryana Civil Services (Pay) Rules, 2016.

Cadre-specific schemes (Schedule I, Part I)

"FPL" is the functional pay level of the entry post and "ACPL" the ACP level. The percentage is the share of the cadre that can hold that level, and "cadre strength" means the total sanctioned posts, vacant ones included. Where the level is limited to 20%, the cadre must have at least three posts and a cadre of three to seven posts gives it to only one eligible employee. Where it is limited to 15%, the cadre must have at least four posts and one of four to ten posts gives it to only one. Rule 8 conditions apply to these cadres too.

Stepping up and special entitlement (rules 12, 13 and 18 note 5)

Rule 12. If a post is filled by both direct recruitment and promotion, the senior employee who came by promotion can have the ACP level and/or pay stepped up when the junior direct recruit is drawing a higher ACP level. The three-upgradation limit is not a bar here, but the satisfactory record and qualification conditions still apply. Rule 13. If after promotion you draw pay in a level inferior to what you would have had in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd ACP level without promotion, you get a special entitlement: the difference in pay and/or a change of level. Such a promotion is not counted as a financial upgradation.

Note 5 of rule 18 fixes anomalies from the 2016 fixation: a senior drawing more than his junior before 1 January 2016 but fixed in a lower cell is stepped up to the junior's cell, and a senior who got ACP before 1 January 2016 and draws less than a junior who got ACP on or after it is stepped up from the date the junior got ACP. The conditions are the same cadre and identical ACP pay structure; the same present and revised structures for both; the senior drawing equal or more pay when he moved to the ACP; and the anomaly directly caused by the pay fixation rules. If the junior is higher only because of advance increments or a personal measure, there is no stepping up.

Forgoing promotion or asking for reversion (rule 14)

ACP is meant for people who cannot get promoted for lack of a vacancy, not for people who say no to promotion. If you forgo promotion in the line of hierarchy, or ask for reversion to a feeder post on your own, for any reason, your pay is refixed one level down:

The refixed pay equals the presumptive pay you would have had without that ACP. If you later say you are ready to accept promotion, the period from the date you forwent it to the date of your application (at least one year) is excluded from regular satisfactory service, and on taking charge your pay is the higher of your earlier ACP pay and the normal fixation. Once accepted, a request to forgo promotion cannot be withdrawn, and the forgoing stays for at least one year or until you give in writing that you are ready, whichever is later.

Option and pay fixation (rules 15 to 18, 21)

For those already on ACP or due ACP in 2016, rule 16 let you draw pay in the revised ACP level or stay in the present structure until your next increment, and rule 17 required the option in the Schedule II form to the Head of Office within three months of the notification, with the deemed option for the revised structure from 1 January 2016 if you sent none. The option is final. It is not available to anyone granted ACP for the first time on or after 1 January 2016. Under rule 18, multiply existing basic pay (pay band plus grade pay) by 2.57, round to the nearest rupee, and take the identical cell in the ACP level, or the immediate next higher cell, or the minimum of the level if that is higher. Medical officers drawing NPA add the DA on the pre-revised NPA to the multiplied figure and then add the pre-revised NPA. Where existing emoluments exceed revised emoluments, the difference is personal pay, absorbed in future increases. Placement in the ACP level is not a functional promotion, but one 3% increment is admissible in the ACP level.

Rule 21, moving to an ACP level on or after 1 January 2016: (1) add one increment to your present pay in your present level; (2) find that figure in the ACP level, or take the next higher cell. If your presumptive pay in the earlier level rises because of an increment while you draw pay in the ACP level, your pay is refixed as if ACP had been granted on the date of that increase, if that helps you.

Increment dates and arrears (rules 19 to 22)

There are two increment dates, 1 January and 1 July, and you get only one increment a year. The date follows the ACP grant:

If you do not complete six months of qualifying service before the normal increment date, your next increment date shifts to the other date. Rule 22 said arrears from 1 January 2016 were to be paid in cash, preferably in 2016-17; the interim relief of Rs 2,000 a month paid to Group C and D employees was discontinued from 1 January 2016 and recovered, and the Rs 5,000 monthly risk allowance for Haryana Police and Prison staff continues until Government orders otherwise.

Four worked examples from the notification

1. Clerk, 1st ACP

A clerk joined as a direct recruit on 5 August 2010 (grade pay 1,900, functional level FPL-2) and has had no upgradation. He completes 8 years on 4 August 2018, so he gets 1st ACP from 1 September 2018, level ACPL-4. His pay in Level-2 on 31.08.2018 is Rs 24,500; one increment makes Rs 25,200; the next higher stage in Level-4 is Rs 25,500.

2. Peon, 2nd ACP

A peon joined on 5 August 2007 (grade pay 1,300) and got his 1st ACP on 1 September 2015. After 8 more years with no upgradation his 2nd ACP is from 1 September 2023, level ACPL-4. Imaginary pay in ACPL-1 is Rs 24,500; plus one increment Rs 25,200; next higher stage in ACPL-4 is Rs 25,500.

3. Clerk promoted to assistant, then ACP

A clerk joined on 4 February 2007, was promoted to assistant on 8 October 2010 (grade pay 3,200, becoming 3,600 from 1 September 2014). Staying an assistant, he is entitled to his second financial upgradation (promotion was the first) on 1 November 2018, in ACPL-10. Pay in FPL-6 on 31.10.2018 is Rs 44,900; one increment makes Rs 46,200, which is itself a cell in ACPL-10, so his pay is Rs 46,200.

4. Junior engineer, 1st and 2nd ACP

A JE joined on 19 September 2006 (grade pay 3,600, upgraded to 4,000 from 1 September 2014). He completed 8 years on 18 September 2014 and is entitled to 1st ACP from 1 October 2014 in ACPL-10; the 2016 fixation is (13,290 + 4,000 = 17,290) × 2.57 = 44,435, placed at Rs 44,900. His 2nd ACP falls due on 1 October 2022 in ACPL-12: basic pay in ACPL-10 is Rs 53,600; one increment (grade pay 5,400) gives Rs 55,200; the next higher stage in Level-12 is Rs 56,300.

ACP date and pay calculator

Pick your functional grade pay, enter the date and see when your next ACP is due and the pay fixed in the new level. The pay cells are built from each level's minimum with a 3% step rounded to the nearest 100, the same way the pay matrix is made. The notification's own illustrations use the 2016 cells, and the buttons below load them.

Overriding effect, relaxation and interpretation (rules 23 to 27)

• Rule 23: where pay is regulated by the ACP rules, the Civil Services Rules and other rules do not apply to the extent they conflict. The ACP rules prevail.
• Rule 24: Government can relax a provision by order in a case of undue hardship, to deal with it in a just and equitable manner. A relaxation is given on the merit of that class and is not discrimination against others.
• Rule 25: Government can add or delete posts, change designations and pay structure in the Schedules, and say how the rules apply.
• Rule 26: a doubt about interpretation goes to the Finance Department through the Administrative Department. Your establishment branch cannot settle it alone.
• Rule 27: a case not covered or an inconsistency goes to Government, which prescribes the conditions, and these are deemed part of the rules.

Next steps: ask your establishment branch whether any charge sheet or inquiry is pending, keep your integrity record and ACRs in order, know which departmental tests your next promotion needs, and write your request for the ACP order in good time. Related guides: Transfer Policy 2026, Unified Pension Scheme and DA calculator.

Questions people ask

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. An independent guide, not an official Government of Haryana website. The Finance Department notification and the orders of your department prevail.