IAS rules row: Govt says states not sending sufficient officers for central deputation
India Today
The DoPT has recently proposed changes in the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, that will take away the power of states to override New Delhi’s request for seeking officers on central deputation.
States are not sparing a sufficient number of IAS officers for deputation, which is affecting the functioning of the central government, the Centre said on Friday, defending its proposed changes in the service rules which gives it power to overrule states on such matters.
Sources in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said a trend of decreasing representation of IAS officers, up to the Joint Secretary-level at the Centre, has been noticed as most of the states are not meeting their Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) obligations and the number of officers, sponsored by them to serve at the Centre are much lesser.
The DoPT has recently proposed changes in the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, that will take away the power of states to override New Delhi’s request for seeking officers on central deputation.
The move has evoked sharp criticism from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to roll back the proposal claiming it will affect the states' administration.
According to DoPT sources, the number of IAS officers on CDR has gone down from 309 in 2011 to 223 as on date.
The percentage of CDR utilisation has gone down from 25 per cent in 2011 to 18 per cent as on date, they said.
In spite of increase of IAS officers at deputy secretary/director level in IAS from 621 in 2014 to 1,130 in 2021, the number of such officers on central deputation has gone down from 117 to 114 during the period, sources said.