Addressing the issue of falling number of IAS officers in central government departments, the IAS Association is planning to recommend compulsory central deputation for officers.
The newly appointed president of the IAS body Rakesh Srivastav who is serving as the secretary in the women and child development ministry, is of the view that the association is looking at ways to increase the number of IAS officers on central deputation. He further added that this can achieved by deputing younger officers who have young children and easily be posted at the Centre.
The problem is partly caused by what is seen as reluctance among IAS officers in states to move to Delhi fearing extensive scrutiny by the Modi government.
Srivastava, a 1981 batch officer of the Rajasthan cadre, opined that states will be asked to complete their respective limits under the Central Deputation Reserve (CDR). There are states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, etc. send very few officers for central deputation. The CDR determines the limit up to which officers could be sent for deputation to the government of India.
It may not be out of tune to mention here that last year, the Central government had written to all states asking them to spare more officers for central deputation in a bid to address the shortage of IAS officers. The Central government has empanelled fewer IAS officers each year since 2015 and just 38 IAS officers had been empanelled for joint secretary posts by the government until July this year for joint secretary posts, down from 87 officers in 2014, even as empanelments from other services shot up considerably.
