Government has finalized new cadre policy of IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service officers aimed at ensuring national integration in the country’s top bureaucracy.
Officers of all-India services — the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) — will have to choose cadres from a set of zones instead of states.
The officers of the three services are currently allocated a cadre state or a set of states to work in. These officers may be posted on central deputation during the course of their service after fulfilling certain eligibility conditions.
Under the new policy, candidates can only select one state/cadre from a zone as their first choice. Their second, third, fourth and fifth choices have to be from the different zones.
According to an official of the Personnel department, the new policy will seek to ensure that officers from Bihar, for instance, will get to work in southern and north-eastern states, which may not be their preferred cadres. He said the new policy would help in upholding the rationale behind the all-India services.
The existing 26 cadres have been divided into five zones in the new policy proposed by the Department of Personnel.