SSC CHSL Posts and Preferences: LDC, DEO, FIX/FLOAT and Pay Levels

SSC CHSL fills clerical and data-entry posts across dozens of central offices — from the Intelligence Bureau and CBI to the Border Roads Organisation and the Defence Accounts Department. Which of them a candidate gets depends on two things: their Tier-II merit and the order in which they listed their preferences. Since 2026 there is also a new step, the FIX/FLOAT choice at identity verification. This guide explains the posts and pay levels, who hired in the last cycle, how allocation works and how to think about the preference list.

SSC Notice of CHSLE 2026; CHSLE 2025 final vacancies; sliding-mechanism notice.

The pay level is what the job starts on; the rest of the salary — dearness allowance, house rent allowance and transport allowance — is set by Government orders and by the city of posting, and SSC does not publish it. So any “in-hand salary” figure you see for CHSL is someone’s calculation, not SSC’s. The tool below shows the entry basic pay for each level and lets you add the current DA and your city’s HRA rate yourself.

Everyone appointed through CHSL serves two years on probation, during which the controlling authority may require training or departmental examinations; confirmation follows only if the officer is “considered fit for permanent appointment”. All the posts carry All India Service Liability — they can be posted anywhere in India — and a user ministry may allot a State, UT or zone and require proficiency in its local language before confirmation. For candidates hoping to stay near home, those conditions matter as much as the department’s name when building the preference list.

Most CHSL vacancies are LDC/JSA-type posts — 3,396 of 3,522 in 2025 — with 37 DEO posts and 89 posts coded JHAA at the Central Government Health Scheme (post code L53, per SSC’s 2025 vacancy list and FRTA corrigendum). DEO vacancies are a small share every year — our counts of SSC’s final vacancy lists give 24 in 2023 and 13 in 2024 — which is why the DEO Tier-I cut-offs run so much higher.

After Tier-II, SSC collects each candidate’s option-cum-preference for posts and departments online. A candidate who does not submit preferences is not considered at all. Posts are then allotted strictly by merit: the highest-ranked candidate gets their first preference, and so on down the list. The rule that matters most is this: in the allocation, once a candidate is given the highest available preference, “he will not be considered for any other post”, and the preferences, once submitted, are final. The one exception since 2026 is the sliding round below, where a candidate who chooses FLOAT is considered again for a higher preference. A preference listed tenth is a promise to accept that post if it is the best one left.

CHSLE 2025 is the first CHSL where the first allocation is not the final result. Every allotted candidate must attend identity verification at an SSC regional office within about ten days; anyone who does not is dropped and their post is freed. At identity verification the candidate chooses FIX — keep the allotted post, with no chance of an upgrade — or FLOAT — be considered for a higher preference freed by absentees. A floating candidate who is upgraded must join the new post and loses the earlier one. There is only one sliding round and no waiting list.

Three things are worth deciding before the preference window, not during it. First, list only posts you would actually join — allocation is binding, and a post listed carelessly can become yours. Second, check the conditions attached to each employer: BRO LDC posts are for men only with physical standards, many departments may post you anywhere in India, and some may require the local language of the state or zone allotted. Third, use the last-selected marks from previous cycles (our cut-off guide has them) to see which departments are realistic for your expected score, and put the ones you prefer most first even if they closed higher last year — a higher preference costs nothing if it is out of reach.