The structure of the Service is 3 tiered, Apex level, Mid-level and Field level.
At the apex level is the Directorate General, located at Delhi Cantt. The officers in charge of the Directorate General are an IDES. The Senior Additional Director General is the only one (HAG). Moreover, there are four Additional Director Generals (SAG) who are in charge of different Divisions.
The middle level comprises the Directorates as Regional Headquarters supervising the
field offices. There are six Directorates, co-located with the six Army Commands. The Army commands are located at Lucknow, Pune, Jammu, Kolkata, Chandigarh and South-Western Command at Jaipur. All these Directorates are headed by the Principal Directors (HAG level) and assisted by the Directors (SAG level) and staff officers. All these officers are from the IDES service.
At the Field level, there are Chief Executive Officers in each of the 62 Cantonment Boards, Defense Estates Officers in each of the 37 Defence Estates Circles, and 04 Assistant Defence Estates Offices, all of which are at the forefront of administration.
Also, in Defence Estates Officers also works at the field level administration. DEOs are an agent of the Central Government in the domain of land management. CEO and DEO are IDES officers selected through UPSC CSE.
All IDES officers undergo a foundation training at LBSNAA are sent to National Institute of Defence Estates Management (NIDEM) in New Delhi for core training. NIDEM, a Central Training Institute was established in 1982 at Meerut Cantonment to function as a premier training institute for Indian Defence Estates Service Officers.
Currently, NIDEM’s first phase lasts for about 6 months before officers are deployed out into the field as CEOs or DEOs. Officers are summoned back to NIDEM for “End of probation training” at the end of the probationary period.
OTs are taught Parliamentary laws, Accounting principles, Civil Engineering principles, Electoral rules, VIP protocols and much more at NIDEM.
After completion of training, an OTs are generally given field postings and they start their career as CEO or DEO of any Cantonment area. As CEO you will be the Member -Secretary of the Cantonment Board. As a CEO, you will be responsible for healthcare services, education services, maintaining infrastructure, fixing and collecting tax, generating non-tax revenue, sanctioning plans and many more.
As a DEO, you will be given charge of circle comprising of supernumerary districts. As a DEO, you will have to surveying defence land for Army, Air Force and Navy, disbursing service charges- to Cantonment Boards, land acquisition, hire land for armed forces, renewing leases and licences and many more.
Below the designation list is attached
| S.No | Posts in Directorate | Posts in Directorate General | Time Scale | Pay Band | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ————————— | Director General Defence Estates | Secretary level Post | 80,000 (Fixed) | Apex Scale |
| 2 | Principal Director | Sr. Addl. Director General | Higher Administrative Grade | 67,000 – 79,000 | —— |
| 3 | Director | Addl. Director General | Senior Administrative Grade | 37,400 – 67,000 | 10,000/- |
| 4 | Joint Director | Deputy Director General | Junior Administrative Grade (Selection) | 37,400 – 67,000 | 8,700/- |
| 5 | Joint Director | Deputy Director General | Junior Administration Grade (Ordinary) | 15,600 – 39,100 | 7,600/- |
| 6 | Deputy Director | Assistant Director General | Senior Time Scale | 15,600 – 39,100 | 6,600/- |
| 7 | Assistant Director | Assistant Director General | Junior Time Scale | 15,600 – 39,100 | 5,400/- |
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