‘IAS rule change not Centre-state issue, it’s about country’s governance’
It cannot be a question of individual comfort when the governance of the country suffers, says Apurva Chandra, I&B secretary
The secretary of information and broadcasting Apurva Chandra on Monday said that proposed amendments to the Indian Administrative Service cadre rules need to be viewed not from the perspective of a Centre-state conflict, but from overarching need for the smooth governance of the country, as states continue to challenge the proposed changes and say that these would destroy the country’s federal structure.
“This is not just a Centre-state issue; it needs to be viewed from the perspective of the governance of the country,” Chandra said. “It cannot be a question of individual comfort when the governance of the country suffers.”
Among the amendments proposed is one that says the Centre will arrive at the number of officers on CDR in consultation with states, another that in case of any difference of opinion between the Centre and the state, the latter will go with the decision of the former, and within a specified time and a third that the Centre could pick a specific officer from a state in public interest.
The union government has sought state government responses to the proposed amendments to IAS cadre rules by January 25, after the last reminder on this was sent on January 6, and at least 10 chief ministers have written to the Prime Minister terming this a blow to the federal structure of governance as they will be forced under the new rules to relieve officers for central deputation.
Chandra added that state-level stints are immensely helpful for officers, as it allows to take the learnings from the ground and implement them on a larger policy scale. “My Maharashtra stint, as controller of rationing in Bombay, helped me realize that there were many issues concerning the diversion of kerosene and LPG,” he said. “When I came to the petroleum ministry, we helped enact laws that could prevent such diversions.”
He stressed that implementation experience at the state level can be leveraged by IAS officers at the central level to enact better policies. “What happens is that officers at the secretary and additional secretary-level (in states) agree to come to the Centre,” he said. “It is at the lower levels that people don’t take deputation. My three stints with the government of India have helped me immensely expand my oeuvre.”
According to a government note seen by HT, a a trend of decreasing representation of IAS officers up to joint secretary level in GoI has been noticed as most of the States are not meeting their CDR obligations and the number of officers, sponsored by the States to serve in GoI are much lesser than the CDR. “The number of IAS officers on CDR has gone down from 309 in 2011 to 223 as on date,” states the note. “The percentage of CDR utilization has gone down from 25% in 2011 to 18% as on date. This is despite an increase of IAS officers at deputy secretary/Director level in IAS from 621 in 2014 to 1130 in 2021, the number of such officers on central deputation has gone down from 117 to 114 during the period.” HT first reported some of the contents of this note on January 21.
The note adds that the reason quoted by most of the state cadres for not sponsoring officers as per prescribed CDR is a shortage of officers in the cadre. “Considering the same and the fact that shortage of AIS officers in the cadres, if any, has to be shared mutually between the Centre and the States, it has been proposed that the state cadre may now provide such number of offices as part of CDR only after adjusting the same proportionately with the number of officers available in the cadre,” states the note.
The union government states that this would address the issue of genuine shortage of officers in any particular cadre. “It may be mentioned that the requirement from the states is only to sponsor adequate number of officers for posting in the Centre. The actual number of officers to be deputed to the Central Government shall be decided only in consultation with the State Government,” the note added.
It further notes that for dealing with specific situations like major disasters, national security, services of an AIS officer may be warranted in the Centre. “Similarly, services of an AIS officer with a specific Domain expertise may be required for any important time bound flagship programme/project of GoI. The extant Cadre Rules do not have specific provisions to cater to such situations, which have now been proposed through these amendments,” the note said.
