Indian Administrative Service

The Indian Administrative Services (IAS) (Hindi: भारतीय प्रशासनिक सेवा) is the All-India^[2] administrative civil service.

IAS officers hold key and strategic positions in the Union Government, States governments^[2] and public-sector undertakings.^[2] Like in various countries (for example UK) following a Parliamentary system, IAS as the permanent bureaucracy in India forms an inseparable part of the executive branch of the Government of India, thus providing continuity to the administration.^[3]

Along with the Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service, the IAS is one of the three All India Services — its cadre can be employed by both the Union Government and the individual States.^[2]

Upon confirming to service after probation as Sub-Divisional Magistrate, an IAS officer is given administrative command in the district as District collector after four years of service. On attaining the upper levels of Apex Scale, they can go on to head whole departments and subsequently entire Ministries of Governments of India and its states. IAS officers represent the Government of India at the international level in bilateral and multilateral negotiations. On deputations^[4] they work at Intergovernmental organisations like World Bank^[5] and United Nations or its Agencies.^[4] IAS officers at various levels of administration play vital roles in conducting free, fair and smooth elections in India under the direction of Election Commission of India and states.^[6]

History

The former Imperial Civil Service was the highest civil service of the British Empire in British India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Civil servants were divided into two categories - covenanted and uncovenanted. The covenanted civil service consisted of only white British civil servants occupying the higher posts in the government. The uncovenanted civil service was solely introduced to facilitate the entry of Indians at the lower rung of the administration.^[10][11]

With the passing of the Government of India Act 1919, the Imperial Services headed by the Secretary of State for India, were split into two – All India Services and Central Services.^[12]

At the time of the partition of India and the departure of the British in 1947, the Imperial Civil Service was divided between the new Dominions of India and Pakistan. The part which went to India was named the Indian Administrative Service, while the part that went to Pakistan was named the Central Superior Services of Pakistan.

Recruitment

IAS officers are recruited from Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.^[2] They are also promoted from State Civil Services^[2] and selected from non-state civil service.^[2] Unlike candidates selected for other civil services, a person once appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or Indian Foreign Service (IFS) becomes ineligible to reappear in Civil Services Examination,^[13] because, prior to 1979 a person to be eligible for IAS/IFS had to appear for additional papers but even after the UPSC civil services exam was made common, the status quo was maintained.^[14][15] After getting selected, candidates undergo training at LBSNAA, Mussoorie for IAS.

State Cadres

Being an All India service, officers of the IAS are allotted to State cadres at the beginning of their service. They continue to work in that cadre or are deputed to Government of India. There is one cadre for each Indian state, except for two joint cadres: Assam–Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh–Goa–Mizoram–Union Territories (AGMUT).^[16] The "insider-outsider ratio" (ratio of officers who are posted in their home states) is maintained as 1:2, with one-third of the direct recruits as 'insiders' from the same state.^[17] The rest are posted as outsiders according to the 'roster' in states other than their home states,^[17] as per their preference.

Till 2008 there was no system of preference of state cadre by the candidates; the candidates, if not placed in the insider vacancy of their home states, were allotted to different states in alphabetic order of the roster, beginning with the letters A, H, M, T for that particular year. For example, if in a particular year the roster begins from 'A', which means the first candidate in the roster will go to the Andhra Pradesh state cadre of IAS, the next one to Bihar, and subsequently to Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and so on in alphabetical order.^[18] The next year the roster starts from 'H', for either Haryana or Himachal Pradesh (if it has started from Haryana in the previous occasion when it all started from 'H', then this time it would start from Himachal Pradesh). This highly intricate system, in vogue since the mid-1980's, had ensured that officers from different states are placed all over India.

The system of permanent State cadres has also resulted in wide disparities in the kind of professional exposure for officers, when we compare officers in small and big and also developed and backward states.^[18] Changes of state cadre is permitted on grounds of marriage to an All India Service officer of another state cadre or under other exceptional circumstances. The officer may go to their home state cadre on deputation for a limited period, after which one has to invariably return to the cadre allotted to him or her.^[16]

Functions of the civil servant/officer

Typically the functions of an IAS officer are as follows:

• To implement government policies at grass-root level when posted at field work i.e. as SDM, ADM, DM and Divisional Commissioner and act as intermediate between public and government.^[19]
• To handle the daily affairs of the government, including framing and implementation of policy in consultation with the minister-in-charge of the concerned ministry which requires supervision and proper enforcement at ground realities.^[20]
• In the process of policy formulation and decision making, when posted at central or state secretariat as Joint Secretary, Principal Secretary, Additional Secretary, Chief Secretary, Secretary and Cabinet Secretary at higher level contribute to the final shape of the policy and/or take a final decision with the concurrence of the minister concerned or the cabinet (depending on the gravity of the issue).^[20]

Career Progression

Most IAS officers start their careers in the state administration at the sub-divisional level as a sub divisional magistrate. They are entrusted with the law and order situation of the city along with general administration and development work of the areas under their charge.^[21] They proceed to various posts in the State and Central Governments, and also local-self Governments (Municipal Corporations / Zilla Parishads), and Public Sector Undertakings.^[22] They also occupy posts in regulatory organizations such as SEBI,^[23] RBI.^[24] If appointed to Constitutional positions such as Election Commission of India or UPSC or statutory authorities such as Central or State Information Commissions, they are deemed to be retired from service.^[25] Some IAS officers are also deputed to private sector organizations under Rule 6(2)(ii) of the All India Service (Cadre) Rules.

Major concerns and reforms

In 2015, it was reported by Government of India that as many as 100 IAS officers have been in the list of corrupt bureaucrats and have come under the CBI scanner for alleged involvement in corruption cases.^{[28][29][30][31]} Further, as per Government of India records, over 1,800 IAS officers deliberately failed to submit details of their immovable assets to federal government for year 2016.^[32]

Recently, several Chief Secretaries^[33][34][35] and Principal Secretaries^[36][37][38] were arrested in graft cases^[39][40] and laundering.^[41] IAS officers have been found amassing disproportionate assets and wealth varying ₹2,000,000,000 (US$31 million),^[42] ₹3,000,000,000 (US$47 million)^[42] and ₹3,500,000,000 (US$54 million).^[42]

In 2017, a former Secretary to Government of India and few other IAS officers were sentenced to jail for the coal allocation scam by a CBI special court in Delhi.^[43][44]

In 2017, it was reported by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions that 24 officers from IAS along with 381 Group A Service officers had been premature retired and granted cut in remuneration.^[45] In recent years, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has dismissed few IAS officers for non performance.^[46][47][48] In 2016, it was reported that Government of India has decided to empower common man to seek prosecution of corrupt IAS officers.^[49] Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (DoPT) has accepted to receive requests from private persons seeking sanction for prosecution in respect of IAS officers without any proper proposal and supporting documents.^[49]

Notable IAS Officers

Some of the notable members of the service are as follows:-

See also

• Special Duty Allowance (SDA)

References

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Indian Administrative Service.

• Civil List IAS Civil List
• ER Sheet by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
• Mystery of the missing IAS dozen by The Telegraph (Calcutta)