All India Services

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The All India Services (AIS) comprises three

civil services in India common to the centre and state governments, which includes the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Police Service (IPS), and the Indian Forest Service (IFS).[1][2][3] Civil servants recruited through All India Services by the central government are assigned to different state government cadres. Some civil servants may, later in their career, also serve the centre on deputation.[3] Officers of these three services comply to the All India Services Rules relating to pay, conduct, leave, various allowances etc.[4]

The central government is the Cadre Controlling Authority for all three All India Services. In terms of provisions for promotion regulations, the specific authorities are the

Ministry of Home Affairs is the authority for IPS, and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the authority for IFS. Recruitments are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on the basis of the annual Civil Services Examination
for IAS and IPS, and Forest Service Examination for IFS. Since 2012 onwards, the preliminary test of the two examinations are combined.

The All India Services Act, 1951, provides for the creation of two more All India Services, namely, the Indian Service of Engineers and the Indian Medical and Health Service.[5][6][7][8]

History

The history of All India Services dates back to the British era when initially Civil Servants were appointed by the Court of Directors of the British East India Company. The service in those times was known as 'Covenanted Civil Service'. With time, they came to be known as Indian Civil Service (ICS).

In 1947, with India gaining independence, ICS was replaced by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police (IP) was replaced by Indian Police Service (IPS) and were recognised by the Indian Constitution as All-India Services. In 1963, Indian Forest Service (IFS) was created and it came into existence in 1966.[9]

Power, purpose and responsibilities

The All India Services Act, 1951 empowers the government of India to make, after consultation with state governments, rules for the regulation of recruitment and conditions of service of the persons appointed to an All India Service. All India Service is governed by All India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968 which specifies the code of conduct for Civil Servant in general. The All India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968[10][11] were amended latest by Govt. of India by notification published in official Gazette of India on 10 April 2015.[12]

Nature of work

Responsibilities vary with the seniority of the civil servant. Junior officers begin with probation and move up in the hierarchy. At the district level the responsibilities are concerned with district matters as well as all developmental affairs while at the divisional level the responsibilities focus on law and order also. Policy framing is carried on at the State and Central levels.

Allocation, division and cadres

Cadre allocation policy

The central government announced a new cadre allocation policy for the All India Services in August 2017, touting it as a policy to ensure national integration of the bureaucracy and to ensure an All India character of the services.[13][14][15] The existing twenty-six cadres were to be divided into five zones by the Department of Personnel and Training.[16][17][18][19] Under the new policy, a candidate first selects their zones of preference, in descending order, then indicates a cadre preference from each preferred zone. The candidate indicates their second cadre preference for every preferred zone subsequently. The preference for the zones and cadres remains in the same order and no change is permitted.[13][14][15]

Officers remain in their allocated cadre or are deputed to the Government of India.[3][20]

Zones under the current cadre allocation policy
Zone Cadres
Zone-I AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories), Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana
Zone-II Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha
Zone-III Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
Zone-IV West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland
Zone-V Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala

Indian Administrative Service

IAS Officers are trained to handle Government affairs. This being the main responsibility, every civil servant is assigned to a particular office which deals with policy matters pertaining to that area. The policy matters are framed, modified, interpreted in this office under the direct supervision of the Administrative Officer in consultation with the Minister. The implementation of policies is also done on the advice of the Officer. The Cabinet Secretary stands at the top of the government machinery involved in policy making followed by Secretary/Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Director, Under Secretary and Junior Scale Officers in that order. These appointments are filled by civil servants according to seniority in the Civil Services. In the process of decision making, a number of officers give their views to the Minister who weighs the matter and makes a decision considering the issue involved.

The implementation process involves supervision and touring. The allocation of enormous funds to and by the field officers calls for supervision and the officials concerned have to reply to queries made in the Parliament for which they must remain well informed.

The Civil servant has also to represent the Government in another country or in International forums. At the level of Deputy Secretary, they are even authorized to sign agreements on behalf of the Government.

A civil servant begins their career in the state with two years in probation. This period is spent at training schools, Secretariat, field offices or in a

Principal Secretaries
/Financial Commissioners in some states

Each State has many Secretaries/Principal Secretaries and only one

Chief Secretary
. Some appointments of Secretaries are considered more prestigious than others, e.g., the Finance Secretary, Development Commissioners, Home Secretary and hence they enjoy the salary of a Principal Secretary. the Chief Secretary in the State is the top ranking civil servant and may be assisted by Additional Chief Secretaries. In some cadres/States e.g. New Delhi, Financial Commissioner and other high ranking secretaries such as Additional Chief Secretaries enjoy the pay of the Chief Secretary .

In the District, the administrative head is the

Collector
or Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate. The DM/Collector/DC handle the affairs of the District including development functions. They necessarily tour all rural sectors inspecting specific projects, disputed sites and look into the problems of people on the spot also.

At the divisional level, the Divisional Commissioner is in charge of their division. Their role is to oversee law and order and general administration and developmental work. Appeals against the Divisional Commissioner are heard by the Chairman of the Board of Revenue.

Indian Forest Service

India was one of the first countries in the world to introduce scientific forest management. In 1864, the British Raj established the Imperial Forest Department. In 1866 Dr. Dietrich Brandis, a German forest officer, was appointed Inspector General of Forests. The Imperial Forest Service (IFS) was organized in 1867.

IFS Officers appointed from 1867 to 1885 were trained in Germany and France, and from 1885 to 1905 at Cooper's Hill, London, which was a noted professional college of forestry. From 1905 to 1926, the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and University of Edinburgh undertook the task of training Imperial Forestry Service officers.

From 1927 to 1932, forest officers were trained at the Imperial Forest Research Institute (FRI) at Dehradun (established in 1906). Later The Indian Forest College (IFC) was established in 1938 at Dehradun, and officers recruited to the Superior Forest Service by the states and provinces were trained there. Forestry, which was managed by the federal government until then, was transferred to the "provincial list" by the Government of India Act 1935, and recruitment to the Imperial Forestry Service was subsequently discontinued.

The modern Indian Forest Service was established in 1966, after independence, under the All India Services Act 1951, for protection, conservation, and regeneration of forest resources.

India has an area of 635,400 km designated as forests, about 19.32 percent of the country. Forest is included in the Concurrent List.

Ranks of the Indian Forest Service are as follows: Assistant Conservator of Forests - Probationary Officer, Divisional Forest Officer (DFOs), Deputy Conservator of Forests,

Conservator of Forests
(CFs), Chief Conservator of Forests (CCFs), Additional
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests
(Addl.PCCFs),
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests
(PCCF) & Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (HoFF) - highest post in a State,
Director General of Forests (India)
- highest post at Centre, selected from amongst the senior-most PCCFs of states.

The training at

(WCCB), etc. besides getting entrusted with senior positions in the Central Secretariat, State Secretariats and various assignments under the Central Staffing Scheme.

Indian Police Service

The Indian Police Service more popularly known as the 'IPS', is responsible for internal security, public safety and law and order. In 1948, a year after India gained independence from Britain, the Imperial Police (IP) was replaced by the Indian Police Service. The IPS is not a law enforcement agency in its own right; rather it is the body to which all senior police officers belong regardless of the agency for whom they work.

An IPS officer is subjected to and faces several life-threatening, crucial, complicated and harsh conditions. They are entrusted with the overall internal security of the entire State as the Director General of Police and entire Districts as its Superintendent of Police, and in Metropolitan Cities as Deputy Commissioner or the entire City as the Commissioner of Police. As Commissioner of Police they enjoy magisterial powers.

The IPS officer takes charge as an

Director General of Police
after 30 years in service.

IPS officers also work in national government agencies such as

High Commissioner and Ambassador
.

The

Joint Commissioner of Police is at the head of certain specialised police force like Criminal Investigation Department
, Special Branch, etc.

Reforms and changes

In January 2012, the Government amended All India Services Rule 16 (3) which permits the Central Government in consultation with the State Government to retire in the public interest, incompetent and non-performing Officers after a review on their completion of 15 years or 25 years of qualifying service or attaining the age of 50.[21][22][23][24]

On recommendation by Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, from year 2014 state civil servants are required to clear 1000 marks four-stage process including a written exam and interview conducted by Union Public Service Commission to get promoted to the three all India services which was previously based solely on basis of seniority and annual confidential reports.[25][26]

Expected Reforms

Creating the remaining two All India Services, as provided by the All India Services Act, 1951:[5][6][7]

  • Indian Service of Engineers
  • Indian Medical and Health Service

See also

References

  1. ^ "FAQs | UPSC". www.upsc.gov.in. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  2. . Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "All India Services". Know India Official website of Government. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  4. ^ "AlS rules". Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  5. ^ a b "The All-India Services Act, 1951 - Act No. 61 of 1951" (PDF). 29 October 1951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2018.
  6. ^ a b "The All-India Services (Amendment) Bill, 1962" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 December 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Chapter VIII All India Services" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2023.
  8. ^ "The All India Services Act, 1951 (Act no. 61 of 1951)" (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. 29 October 1951. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  9. ^ "The All India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2016.
  10. ^ "Revised All India Services Rules (Vol.-I)". Archived from the original on 13 December 2014.
  11. ^ "The Gazette of India" (PDF). 10 April 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Cadre Allocation Policy for the All India Services-IAS/IPS/IFoS – Reg" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. 5 September 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  13. ^ from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  14. ^ from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  15. from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  16. from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  17. from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Central government finalises new cadre policy for IAS, IPS officers". Deccan Chronicle. New Delhi. 24 August 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  19. ^ "Consolidated Deputation Guidelines for All India Services" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India. 28 November 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  20. ^ "Retire non-performing bureaucrats: Centre to states". 1 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012.
  21. ^ "Lazy and incompetent babus to retire early". New Delhi: India Today. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  22. ^ "Corruption taint may lead to compulsory retirement for babus". New Delhi: India Today. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  23. ^ "Proposal to retire incompetent officers after 15-year service". New Delhi: Rediff News. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  24. ^ "Exams for state civil services officers for promotion to IAS". 4 April 2014.
  25. ^ "State civil services officers for promotion to IAS". 4 April 2014.

External links