The  Personnel  Department  was originally  known  as  the  Appointment  Department.  Due to subsequent increase in work, the Department was bifurcated into two branches, viz., Appointment (A) and Appointment (B) in the last part of 1955. With  a  view  to  strengthening and streamlining the administrative machinery in the context of the then newly unveiled 20-Point  Programme  and  recommendations  of  the  Conference  of  Chief  Secretaries  in May, 1976, the Department was reorganized and renamed as the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms & Training. The newly reorganized Department of Personnel &  Administrative  Reforms  and  Training  had  three  branches  namely (1)  Personnel;  (2) Administrative  Reforms  &  Organization  and  Methods;  and  (3)  Training.

Subsequently,  Department of Personnel was separated from the Administrative Reforms Department vide Notification No. ABP.133/76/Pt. IV/43 dated 11.08.1978. The  Training  wing  of  the  present  day Administrative Reforms & Training Department remained tagged with the Department of Personnel.  However,  in  1979, the  Training  wing  of  the  Department  of  Personnel  was made  a  part  of  the  Administrative  Reforms  &  Training  Department. 

The  present  day Department of Personnel has two separate wings – Personnel (A) and Personnel (B) for the sake of administrative convenience.