Joined a New Post by Direct Recruitment: Does Your MACP Count Restart?

The short answer: it turns on the level of your new post

The MACP scheme counts service from the post you entered by direct recruitment. So when you are recruited afresh into a new post, the starting assumption of every cadre section is that your MACP clock starts on the day you joined that new post. That assumption is right for a large number of people. It is wrong for a smaller group whose new post sits in the same level of the pay matrix as the old one and who came across without a break.

For that smaller group, Annexure I of the scheme makes a specific exception. Past continuous regular service in another central government department, in a post carrying the same grade pay (now read as the same pay level after the 7th CPC), is counted towards MACP. It is counted for MACP only, not for seniority or for eligibility to promotion in the new cadre. Many offices miss this line because they process new joiners as a batch and fill in the date of joining from the appointment order.

So the honest answer to 'does my MACP count restart?' is: it restarts if you moved up a level, and it should not restart if you moved sideways within the same level, through proper channel and without a gap. There are grey areas in between, and the rest of this guide deals with them.

What the MACP rules actually say about past service

Six common moves and what usually happens to the MACP count

MACP technical resignation: the paperwork that keeps your service joined up

A technical resignation is the formal resignation you give from the old post only so that you can join the new one, after applying for the new post through proper channel with your department's permission. The pension rules treat it differently from an ordinary resignation: service is not forfeited, and the period between relief from the old post and joining the new one can be regularised as joining time or leave. Rule 26(2) of the old CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 is the provision most people know, and the 2021 Rules keep the same idea.

For MACP technical resignation matters in a narrower way. It is your proof that there was no break and that the move was with permission. Without it, the new office can say you came in as an outsider and your past service has nothing to do with them. With it, the only remaining question is whether the two posts were in the same level.

The papers that show this are usually scattered. The forwarding letter or 'no objection' for your application sits with the old department. The acceptance of technical resignation is in the old personal file. The relieving order may be with you. The new joining report is with the new establishment section. Your new service book often has only the last of these four. Gather all four before you write a word, and check the dates line by line: relieved on the afternoon of one date, joined in the forenoon of the next working day, or within the joining time allowed.

Moving up a level by direct recruitment: why the MACP count resets

This is where most disappointed employees sit. A Lower Division Clerk in Level 2 clears SSC CGL and joins as an Assistant Section Officer or an Inspector in Level 7. A Level 4 Postal Assistant clears a UPSC exam and joins a Group A service. They have eight, twelve or fifteen years of earlier government service and assume it will all count.

It does not count for MACP in the new post, and the reason is the design of the scheme. MACP exists to help people who stagnate in their direct entry grade. Someone who moved into a higher level by competing in an open selection has already got the jump that MACP would have given them, often more. Courts have generally accepted this reading. The Delhi High Court's decision in P.S. Rajput v. Union of India (2019) is often cited for the point that service in a lower grade does not count after direct recruitment to a higher one, and the tribunal benches follow the same line.

The MACP count reset is not a penalty, and it does not touch other things. The earlier service still counts as continuous service if the resignation was technical: for those under the old pension it counts towards qualifying service, and for post-2004 joiners it keeps the NPS record unbroken and matters for any service-linked benefit such as UPS. Do not let anyone tell you those years are lost altogether; our page on earlier service left out of qualifying service deals with that separate claim. Your pay on joining the new post may also be protected under the pay rules; that question is covered on the page about losing earlier pay after joining another central job.

Same level, new department: what counts and what gets set off

New department MACP disputes in same-level cases are usually not about whether the past service counts, but about how much and with what deductions. Three things go into the calculation. First, the date your regular service began in the old department, not any earlier ad hoc or contract period. Second, any promotion or MACP you got in the old department, which uses up one of your three upgradations. Third, any period that was not regular service, such as extraordinary leave not counted for increments, which some offices exclude and others do not.

There is a trap here that catches people who were already upgraded. Suppose you joined the old department in Level 2, got your first MACP to Level 3 after ten years, and then were directly recruited to a Level 3 post elsewhere. Is the new post 'the same level'? Compared with your MACP pay, yes; compared with your old post's level, no. Departments tend to compare the posts, not the personal pay, and treat the move as one to a higher level. The view taken in a reported 2026 Delhi High Court decision about a Delhi Police employee with earlier Doordarshan service shows that protected pay and retrospective revision can change the answer, but the facts there were particular. Cases of this kind need a careful look at the scheme paragraph and the specific orders.

Where the counting is straightforward, write it out as a simple table in your representation: date of regular appointment in the old post, level, date of relief, date of joining the new post, level, upgradations already received. A cadre officer who can see the whole picture on one page is far more likely to agree than one handed a bundle and a vague request.

Where offices usually go wrong

• Taking the date from the appointment order alone. The order shows when you joined the new post. It says nothing about the old one, so the past service never gets entered unless you ask.
• Confusing pension continuity with MACP continuity. Some offices refuse MACP past service because they think it is a pension issue, or accept it for MACP but then forget pension. The two are separate entries.
• Counting ad hoc years from the old department. This works in your favour at first and against you later, when audit objects and a recovery notice follows.
• Ignoring an upgradation already received. An office that gives you a fresh first MACP without noticing the one you got earlier creates an overpayment, and you may be asked to return it years later.
• Treating a short gap as a break. A gap covered by joining time, or a gap the old department agreed to treat as leave, is not a break. A gap nobody regularised can be argued as one.

How to claim your past service for MACP, step by step

This assumes your new post is in the same level and you came through proper channel. If it is in a higher level, read the section on resets first before spending effort here.

1. Get both service records

   Ask for an attested copy of the relevant pages of your new service book and request, in writing, the old department's papers on your forwarding, technical resignation and relief. Our guide on getting a copy of your service book and personal file explains how to ask. RTI is a fallback if the old office does not respond.

2. Build a one-page date table

   List each post, its pay level, the date regular service began, the date of relief, the date of joining and any upgradation already received. Put the gap, if any, in its own row and show what covered it.

3. Check the claim against the scheme

   Run through the ten points in our MACP checklist before you complain: benchmark, penalties, pending cases and refused promotions can each defer an upgradation even after the service question is settled.

4. Write the representation through proper channel

   Address the authority that grants MACP in your new department, quote para 9 of Annexure I, attach the documents and ask for a specific outcome: placement of your case before the screening committee with your regular service counted from the old date. Keep the receipt or the diary number.

5. Follow up once, in writing, after three months

   A short reminder with the diary number of your first representation is enough. Do not send a fresh representation each month; repeated representations do not extend the time to go to the tribunal.

6. Move the tribunal if refused or ignored

   If the department rejects the claim, or six months pass without a decision, you can file an Original Application under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act. Our MACP upgradation page covers what the OA usually asks for.

Keep in mind that the screening committee still has to clear you. Winning the service count only puts you in line; the benchmark and vigilance position still apply.

Papers that prove continuity and the pay level

MACP on direct recruitment for Group A, Group C, railway and defence civilian staff

The rule is the same across central services, but the way it shows up differs. Group C staff are the ones most often caught in same-level moves: a Level 2 clerk in one ministry moving to a Level 2 post in another office, or a Level 4 Postal Assistant moving to a Level 4 Tax Assistant post. They gain most from para 9 and are also the ones whose papers are most often incomplete.

Group A officers who come in through UPSC usually move up a level, so the count resets. The more common question for them is pay protection and pension continuity, not MACP. Scientists in DRDO, ISRO or CSIR mostly have their own assessment promotion schemes, and MACP may not apply to them in the usual way, so check what governs your post before relying on this guide.

Railway employees follow the MACP scheme as adopted by the Railway Board, with Board letters that track DoPT orders but are numbered and dated separately; quote the Railway Board version in a railway representation. Defence civilians in MES, ordnance establishments or command headquarters follow the DoPT scheme through the Ministry of Defence. Employees of the former ordnance factories, moved to the new defence companies in 2021, have their own status questions, and MACP after that move is not simply a direct recruitment issue.

Arrears and how far back the claim reaches

A wrong MACP count is treated as a continuing wrong, because it affects your pay every month. That means the claim itself does not die after one year. What gets limited is the arrears. Tribunals commonly restrict pay arrears to about three years before the date of filing, following the Supreme Court's decision in Union of India v. Tarsem Singh (2008). For pay claims that cap is still regularly applied, though the position for pension has moved in 2026; check the current law before you plan around it. Our guide on continuing wrongs and old pay claims explains the limits.

In practice this means every year of delay can cost you a year of arrears, even if the upgradation itself is eventually granted from the correct date. If your MACP was due in 2019 and you file in 2026, the tribunal may well say 'grant it notionally from 2019, with actual arrears from 2023'. If you have a rejection letter, the one-year time limit under Section 21 runs from that letter for the purpose of challenging it, which is another reason not to sit on it.

Where the case is filed if the department refuses

An MACP dispute is a service matter under Section 3(q) of the Administrative Tribunals Act, so central government employees file before the Central Administrative Tribunal. The bench is usually the one with jurisdiction over the place where you are posted now, or where the order was passed. A retired employee can generally file where he or she lives. If you moved from, say, Patna to Delhi on direct recruitment, the Principal Bench at New Delhi is likely to be the right bench for a claim against the new Delhi office.

If the new employer is a body notified under Section 14(2), such as many central autonomous bodies, the tribunal can hear you. If it is not notified, or if you are in a Central Armed Police Force, a PSU or a bank, the claim goes to the High Court by writ. State government employees use the State Administrative Tribunal where there is one, or the High Court. Our page on representation before going to the tribunal explains when the six-month wait applies.

Time and cost at each stage

Two tips from Advocate B.K. Singh

• Ask the old department for a continuity certificate before you write to the new one. Advocate B.K. Singh's experience is that a single letter from the old office saying 'regular service from this date, technical resignation accepted, relieved on this date' settles more MACP past service disputes than any judgment does. It is also the first thing a tribunal asks for.
• Settle service continuity for retirement benefits at the same time. Advocate B.K. Singh suggests putting MACP and qualifying service for pension in one representation, as two separate prayers. Even where the MACP claim fails because the new post is in a higher level, the continuity entry for pension, NPS or UPS purposes is usually sound, and getting it recorded now saves a fight at retirement.

Your next three moves

Find the four documents that prove continuity: forwarding letter, technical resignation acceptance, relieving order and joining report. Check the pay level of both posts on the appointment orders. If the levels match and there was no break, write your representation this month; if the new post is in a higher level, put your effort into pension continuity and pay protection instead. Before filing, our guide on how an MACP calculation is checked before filing shows the arithmetic a tribunal will expect, and the MACP case page sets out what an OA can ask for.

If you want your papers read before you write, contact Advocate B.K. Singh for advice on your MACP papers or updates on the law.