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Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Amendment Rules, 2014, notified on January 28, 2014, made it clear that an officer in a cadre post would hold the office for at least two years unless in the meantime he or she has been promoted, retired or sent on deputation outside the state or training exceeding two months. According to the amended rules, a cadre officer can be transferred before the minimum specified period only on the recommendation of the civil services board comprising senior bureaucrats like chief secretary as its chairman, and the senior most additional chief secretary or chairman of board of revenue or financial commissioner or an officer of equivalent rank as its member. The principal secretary or secretary in the department of personnel in the state government will be its member secretary. All state governments have to constitute this board, according to amended rules.
That means, political leadership of a state will find it extremely difficult to resort to random transfers of bureaucrats unless it convinces the civil services board itself. And if the civil services board recommends to the competent authority the names of officers to be transferred before the completion of minimum tenure, it has to record reasons in writing. In other words, the board is held accountable if it resorts to malpractices in premature transfer of officers.
That’s not all. The civil services board, under the new rules, will have to submit a quarterly report to the Central government “clearly stating the details of officers recommended to be transferred before the minimum specified tenure”.
According to a report published in The Times of India, some of the frequently transferred officers include 1982 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre officer Vineet Chaudhary (transferred 52 times in 31 years), Assam-Meghalaya cadre officer Winston Mark Simon Pariat (50 times in 36 years), Kusumjit Sidhu of the Punjab cadre (46 transfers), Haryana cadre officer Keshni Anand Arora (45 transfers) in addition to much talked about Ashok Khemka of Haryana cadre. Kusumjit Sidhu, a 1979 batch IAS, is currently the Union secretary in the department of public enterprise (DPE).
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SC ruling on bureaucrats' fixed tenures
In the Indian Postal Service, officers who have been transferred the most times from one station to another are Ms. Madhuri Dabral, 1989 transferred record 11 times in 10 years. Shri Uday Shankar 8 times in 9 years and Shri Bhaskar Reddy 13 times in 8 years. There are about 27 officers who have been posted at the same station throughout service. There are 4 officers who have never left the State. There are 39 officers who have alternated between working in the department, deputation, training. There are 13 officers who have willingly served countries like Kosovo, Afghanistan, Ghana etc but on rejoining department have refused to leave Delhi. If the Service Profile of officers are analysed several interesting facts coming out.
ReplyDeletedimpychopra@yahoo.com
Will the amended IAS (Cadre) Rules be enforceable in the States that do not support it.Could the Chief Secretaries of States heading the civil services boards,dare to disobey their political masters? What about other All India Services like the IFS? Why has this been left out of the protective shields.
ReplyDeleteThose who have worked at the centre ,must be familiar with the functioning of the Civil Services Board headed by the union Cabinet Secretary. Ministers' recommendations about appointments/transfers of inconvenient bureaucrats are seldom ignored by the Board.The political interference will continue in the States,as well. Nothing can help in the absence of political Will.
A K Saxena (A retired civil servant)
http://www.aksaxena.co.in
I entirely agree with Shri Saxena. What is required is not more and more rules but we must ensure men & women of credibility, high ethics, high moral values, honest and bold who have guts to withstand pressure are posted against all top level posts. If we have officers of low ethics holding high positions who are willing to compromise on everything to please his masters then this erodes the authority & respect of the institution. Such officers demean the chair & bring disgrace to organisation which comes out in open only when they demit office. Therefore Government should prepare a dossier of all officers, note down every complaint against them, also record number of charge sheets issued and dropped. This will end all kind of manipulations. More & more rules is just time pass, look busy do nothing kind of situation, keeping occupied but actually not doing anything.
DeleteHowever unlike in the times before the past where transfers can made without any reason recorded, a reason has to be recorded in writing by at least two authorities, the CSB and the State Government. With access to this information under RTI the State and the CSB would cut a sorry picture if an officer is transferred without a valid reason, an aggrieved officer can also approach an adjudicating authority for relief.
ReplyDeleteThe Board should also suggest rules for posting to be based on seniority and experience to avoid senior officers being posted to so called dumped or insignificant posts. These postings should relate to seniority vis a vis the impact of the post and the financial and administrative powers of the post
ReplyDelete