The amendments proposed to Rule 6(1) of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) (Cadre) Rules of 1954, which seek to empower the Central government to unilaterally order the Central deputation of IAS officers without the consent of the State governments or the officers concerned, have provoked controversy. The Centre has justified them on the ground that the States are not meeting their Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) obligations because of which the Centre is suffering from an acute shortage of mid-level IAS officers, especially Deputy Secretaries and Directors.
It is true that some States like Tamil Nadu (until a few years ago) and West Bengal were recalcitrant and would not forward the names of even willing IAS officers for Central deputation. But the fact that all the States, including the BJP-ruled ones, are not meeting CDR obligations indicates that their reluctance to forward names to the Centre is not the real problem. We believe that there are simpler, more effective and less contentious solutions to the shortage than the proposed amendments. In fact, once the root causes of the shortage are identified, the solutions suggest themselves.
