Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged the Centre to drop its plan to amend the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954.
The proposed amendments to the Deputation Rules would allow the Centre to depute All-India Service Officers to central service without the consent of the States concerned.
In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vijayan said the proposed amendments would "induce a fear psychosis and attitude of hesitancy among All-India Service Officers to implement policies of a State Government and weaken the authority of civil service."
He also pointed out that the Centre had not discussed the amendments with the States.
"We need to recognise that in a vibrant democratic and federal polity, States and the Centre can be ruled by political formations with vastly different ideologies and political views. But these Governments function within the framework of the Constitution," Vijayan said in the letter sent on Sunday.
Three non-BJP ruled States, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, had already opposed the amendments. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, too, urged the Centre on Sunday to drop the planned amendments.
Meanwhile, the Centre defended its proposed changes saying that states are not sparing sufficient number of IAS officers for deputation which is affecting the functioning of the central government.
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.
According to DoPT sources, the number of IAS officers on CDR has gone down from 309 in 2011 to 223 as on date.
Officers of the level of deputy secretary/director and above are usually appointed in central government ministries/departments (i.e. on central deputation) under the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS).
Every cadre a state/states or states and Union territories -- is allowed a central deputation reserve to ensure that officers have the opportunity to work on deputation, including that under the CSS, which adds to their experience.
