Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren opposes proposal to amend IAS Cadre Rules; writes to PM Modi

After the Central Government's proposal to amend the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday expressed "strong reservations" on it, urging the Prime Minister to roll back the decision stating that the changes in rules for central deputation of IAS officers will promote ‘unilateralism’. 

The Jharkhand CM tweeted:

In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Jharkhand CM said, "If the objective is to meet the shortage of officers serving in the affairs of the Government of India then, I must say, it is not a desirable move because the State Government exclusively get the services of only three category of officers ie. IAS, IPS and IFS whereas the Government of India, every year, gets a huge pool of officers from more than 30 odd other All India Services for which UPSC makes recommendations without fail. The shortage in the Ministries of GOI can be easily met from this pool of officers.

CM Soren added, "I would like to reiterate that even though recruitments are being made after taking into consideration Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) but the fact remains that there is an acute shortage of officers in small cadres like Jharkhand. As of today, only 140 IAS officers (65%) are working in the State as against the sanctioned strength of 215."

Centre proposes an amendment to IAS Cadre rules

The Central government has proposed to add a provision in Rule 6 of IAS Cadre Rules, 1954. The current rule says that any IAS officer, with the concurrence of the state government concerned, could be posted on central deputation.

With the current Rule 6, the Centre has proposed to attach: “Provided that each State Government shall make available for deputation to the Central Government, such number of eligible officers of various levels to the extent of the Central Deputation Reserve prescribed under Regulations referred to in Rule 4(1), adjusted proportionately by the number of officers available with the State Government concerned vis-a-vis the total authorised strength of the State Cadre at a given point of time. The actual number of officers to be deputed to the Central Government shall be decided by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government concerned." 

Image: ANI