DoPT realizes its error; asks IAS Karuna Kumari to apply for deputation to Bihar only in Feb 2017

CENTRE’S personnel department, DoPT, has said that 2010 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS Dr (Ms) Karuna Kumari has to wait for one more year before applying for an inter-cadre deputation to her home cadre, Bihar, on compassionate grounds, after the department realized it had made a mistake earlier. The mistake is dated back to November 9, 2015 when a secretary-headed panel of the department inadvertently mentioned that the officer Ms Kumari was...

going to complete the mandatory period of 6 years in service in Northeast in January 2016 before she could be transferred to her home cadre on a deputation basis. But the DoPT later realized it made mistake in calculation, as she would actually complete the required six years only after February 21, 2017.

A meeting of a panel held on February 9, 2016 under the chairmanship of secretary, personnel, to consider cases of inter cadre deputation/inter cadre transfer/extension in inter cadre deputation period etc. decided that her application of transfer to Bihar would be processed only after February 21, 2017.

Ms Kumari, 39, did veterinary science from Bihar veterinary college under Rajendra agriculture university before getting into IAS in 2010. She was allotted the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. It is however not known what is the compassionate ground under which she had applied for inter cadre transfer to Bihar.

The same meeting held on February 9 also asked 2007 batch IAS Chaitra V to apply for inter cadre transfer Karnataka cadre only after July 1, 2017 when she would complete required nine years of required service before being eligible to apply for inter-cadre deputation (for Northeast, the required period is six years).

But an officer wanting to prolong the deputation tenure in Northeast is often encouraged, as the region has short of officers. For example, 2003 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer Asangba Chuba AO, who would be completing four years on inter cadre deputation to Nagaland, requested the DoPT to extend his deputation tenure in Nagaland beyond June 2016. The DoPT decided the place his proposal to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) once it gets a nod from his cadre, Bihar.