In a significant move linked to the sudden transfer of IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal by the Uttar Pradesh government, the Centre has now decided to give permanence of tenure belonging to Central services.
Sources said the Centre plans at least a fixed two-year tenure for officials from services like IAS, IPS, IFS, forest services and other Central services for which officials are sent on deputation to states.
The department of personnel and training (DoPT), which regulates services rules for most Central services, now plans to write to state governments, since transfer and posting is a state subject, to implement the proposed norms. Following the “arbitrary” transfer of Durga Shakti there was an increasing view within the Centre that government officials need to be give protection from political interference.
Sources said though most states were in favour of the two-year norms, it was not being implemented at the ground level. In case, sources added, if some states do object to the proposed rule the DoPT is willing to put in an enabling provision that an officer can be moved out but only in the “rarest of rare” circumstances and for which a stringent system of checks and balances will be put in place at both the state and Central levels.
“We want to evolve a wider consensus on this contentious issues and hopefully states will not have any problems. There is a feeling that bureaucracy should be insulated from political interference, particularly where the state’s action prima facie appears to be arbitrary,” a senior government official said.
Reacting to the proposed move, a senior administration official in the UP government said that the Centre can put in place a broad policy framework for the states to follow and leave the implementation to it. “In principle, we are in favour of stability of tenure. But in extreme cases if an officer has to be moved out that provision should be there for which a detailed report can be forwarded to the DoPT as it is the cadre controlling agency,” the official responded.
Officially, Durga Shakti was transferred out by the UP government as the state government argued her actions of ordering the demolition of a wall of a religious structure could trigger communal backlash. But reports suggested the real reason was the crackdown by the young IAS officer against the illegal sand mafia in Greater Noida area. The move had triggered largescale protests from various officers associations.
who met minister for personnel V. Narayanasamy and DoPT secretary S.K. Sarkar.