Amendments to the IAS (Cadre) Rules have been strongly condemned for arbitrarily appointing IAS officers in the Central Service without the recommendation of the State Governments.
Protests have erupted that the federal government is doing this in order to gain more control over the central representation of IAS officers.
Strong structure created by Patel: All India Services was built by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of India. Patel stressed the need for an all-India framework to administratively integrate a vast, culturally and linguistically vast country like India. Accordingly, the Central Government will appoint people for administrative duties such as IAS and IPS and the officers will be transferred by the Central Government to the State Governments. The officers so dispatched will be employed as required by the Central and State Governments. However, each state will have an offer list if an IAS or IPS officer working in the state government is to be appointed in the central service. From there, the central government will select the officers it needs. The State Government will immediately dismiss any officer so selected and expedite the process of accepting the Central post.
In this context, the Central Government will amend the IAS (Cadre) Rules to allow the arbitrary appointment of IAS officers in the Central Service without the recommendation of the State Governments.
Political Interventions: Although traditions have been followed in appointing IAS and IPS officers to central functions, there have been occasional clashes between the Central and State Governments over political interference. The conflict between Jayalalithaa and the central government is significant.
In the same month that Jayalalithaa took office in 2001, former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Murasoli Maran, D.R. Balu was arrested. In the midst of that was the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance rule. Within a month of the incident, three IPS officers were called to work by the federal government. However, Jayalalithaa strongly opposed sending the officers to central duties. He wrote a letter asking for the support of other state chief ministers to protect the rights of state governments.
If this is an old controversy, there is a good example in the present. That was the West Bengal incident. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited West Bengal last May to inspect the effects of the cyclone. There were complaints that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Chief Secretary Bandopadhyay had boycotted the review meeting chaired by the then Prime Minister. Following this, the Central Government ordered the transfer of West Bengal Chief Secretary Bandopadhyay to the Central Government’s Compensation Welfare Division. But Mamata, who raised the banner against the central government, immediately appointed Bandopadhyay as her chief adviser for three years.
Similarly, after the DMK government took charge in Tamil Nadu, Amutha IAS, who was the Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, was recalled to Tamil Nadu.
This is said to be an act that violates the rights of the state government.
It is in this context that the Central Government has decided to amend the IAS (Cadre) Rules to allow the arbitrary appointment of IAS officers in the Central Service without the recommendation of the State Governments.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Kejal and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupathi Bagel have written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemning the move.
It has been reported that the Tamil Nadu government will also write a letter in this regard.