Kerala govt opposes amendments to deputation rules

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has opposed the amendments proposed by the Centre in the deputation rule for All-India service (AIS) officers, citing that the amendments are in favour of the Centre alone and will result in inducing fear psychosis and an attitude of hesitancy among the officers.
In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that deputation rules in its present form itself are heavily loaded in favour of the Union and bringing further stringency will weaken the very root of cooperative federalism.
“The government of Kerala is of the opinion that these proposed amendments may be dropped,” he said.
The chief minister further said that the proposed amendments will definitely induce fear psychosis and an attitude of hesitancy among AIS officers to implement policies of a state government, which are formed by parties politically opposed by the ruling party at the Centre.
“We need to recognize that in a vibrant democratic and federal polity, states and the Centre can be ruled by political formations with vastly different ideologies and political views. But these governments function within the framework of the Constitution,” he said.
The Centre had proposed four amendments to the rules six of the Indian administrative service (cadre) rules, 1954.
At present, the officers need to receive a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the state government for their central deputation. As per the new amendment, if the states fail to give the NoC within a specified time, the officer shall be deemed to have been relieved from the date specified by the Centre. As per the existing rules, the states have to depute AIS officers to the Centre and at any point of time, the deputation strength cannot be more than 40% of the total strength.
The proposed amendments say that the Centre will decide the actual number of officers to be deputed to it. The proposed amendments also say that in case of any disagreement between the Centre and the state, the Centre will decide and the states should give effect to the decision within a specific time.