The aim of this scheme shall be to select deserving sailors from amongst all the branches of the Navy and to give them appropriate in-service training fully as to make them general list officers fully at par with entrants through other schemes.
(2) Eligibility:- Sailors of all branches shall be eligible under this scheme, provided they fulfil the following conditions, namely:-
(a) Age Limits:- Non-Artificers sailors shall be under 221/2 years of age , and Artificer sailors under 24 years of age on 1st January of the year in which the course commences. Age limit can be relaxed upto one year at the discretion of the Chief of the Naval Staff. To protect the inter4est of sailors who may be affected during the transitional period from the old to this revised scheme, the age limits can be further relaxed as follows, upto the 1981 course:-
(i) Mechanicians of all branches – 29 years
(ii) Others –25 years
(b) Educational Qualification:- The minimum educational qualification shall be Matriculation or equivalent.
(c) Service:- Before appearing for the written examination a Non-Artificer sailor should have completed his induction training, including Class III specialist Qualification where applicable. An artificer sailor, should hold the rank of Artificer V Class or higher.
(d) Marital status and Accommodation:- Sailors who are married shall not be provided married accommodation nor allowed to live with their families while undergoing training. Those who are not married shall not be permitted to marry till they become confirmed sub-Lieutenants.
(e)Medical Standards:- A sailor should be in S1A1 medical category. Those in temporary lower medical category shall also be eligible to apply but their cases shall be decided on merits by Naval Headquarters.
3. Selection
(a) Application- Candidates wishing to apply for commission under this scheme shall apply, on the Form prescribed by the Chief of the Naval Staff, through their Commanding Officers.
(b) Preliminary Screening- Boards of officers shall be constituted in Commands to screen the applicants and ensure that they have a reasonable chance of qualifying in the written examination and pass the Services Selection Board. A sailor shall be permitted to appear before the screening Board only three times during his entire service. The number of times a sailors has appeared before the Preliminary Selection Board under the earlier scheme shall also be counted against this total.
(c) Written examination- Sailors who pass the ‘Preliminary Screening’ shall be permitted to appear in a written examination. There shall be two separate written examinations, one fore Artificers after the other for Non-artificers. The standard of examination for Artificers shall be such as enable them, after six months of training to conjoin with NDA cadets of technical branches at INS Shivaji. The standard of examination for Non-Artificers shall be equivalent to that of Higher Secondary.
(d) Services selection Board-Candidates declared successful at the written examination shall be required to appear before the Services Selection Board.
(e) Medical Board- candidates who qualify in the services Selection Board shall be required to appear before a Medical Board.
(f) Final Selection- final selection shall be made on the basis of a merit list in case there are more successful candidates than there are vacancies.
Those who fail to make the merit list shall have to undergo the selection process again starting with the written examination.
(4) Branch Allocation-Because of the substantial technical training undergone by them as apprentices, Artificers, excepting shipwright Artificers, who are selected under this scheme shall be allotted to the Engineering or Electrical Branch. Non-Artificer Sailors and shipwright Artificers selected under this scheme shall be allotted Branches depending upon the needs of the service from time to time, and the aptitude of the individual.
(5)Training and Promotion
(a) Artificers-After final selection, artificers shall be designated as cadets and sent to the Naval Academy for undergoing six months of general academic training. Thereafter they shall conjoin with ex-NDA cadets and undergo the Basic Engineering Course at INS Shivaji. They shall be promoted to Midshipmen after six months service at INS Shivaji as cadets and to Acting Sub-Lieutenant after six months service as Midshipmen.
(b) Non-artificers- After final selection, Non Artificers and Shipwright Artificers shall be designated as cadets and sent to the Naval Academy for two years academic training. Thereafter, they shall undergo six months afloat training as cadets on board a Cadets’ Training Ship and be promoted Midshipmen at the end of this period.
Thereafter:-
(i)Those allotted Executive Branch shall undergo a further six months training afloat, as Midshipmen. After this they shall be promoted as Acting Sub- Lieutenant and undergo further training courses along with their ex-NDA counterparts.
(ii)Those allotted Engineering or electrical Branch shall conjoin with ex-NDA Midshipmen at INS Shivaji and undergo the Basic Engineering Course. They shall be promoted to Acting Sub-Lieutenant after serving for six months as Midshipmen.
© Relegation-those failing in the prescribed examination hold during taiing as cadets and Midshipmen shall be relegated by six months at a time and their promotion delayed accordingly. Penality for failure after being promoted as Acting Sub-Lieutenant shall be as applicable to ex-NDA Cadets.
(d) Withdrawal- A trainee who fails to make adequate progress may be withdrawn from training with the approval of Naval Headquarters. If a trainee is withdrawn while under training as a Cadet, he shall be reverted to his original rank SECTION IX – “GOOD CONDUCT BADGES”