Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers posted in Jharkhand are upset over their frequent transfers by the Jharkhand government ignoring IAS (Cadre) Rules 7 of 1954 which stipulates a minimum tenure of two years for an IAS officer holding a senior post.
The Jharkhand government transferred over 200 IAS officers and engineers since Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren assumed charge as chief minister in August 2008.
The Jharkhand unit of IAS Officers’ Association has decided to lodge a protest against such transfers and postings to the chief minister.
According to a senior IAS officer in Jharkhand, the Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, in a letter to the Jharkhand government in April this year, had asked the state to observe the provisions of Rule 7 of the IAS (Cadre) Rule 7, 1954, subsequently amended in 2006 relating to minimum tenure of the cadre posts of the IAS officers for two years.
Three IAS officers, N N Sinha, A P Singh and Puja Singhal, were shifted from senior duty posts several times within days and months.
However, political leaders here told Business Standard that transfers and postings of the senior officers depended on the liking of chief ministers when they assumed office.
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They said that in many states, chief ministers followed this path.
The leaders pointed out that after the Jharkhand state was constituted, the NDA coalitions led by Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda, and then the UPA coalition government led by Madhu Koda, has shifted over 5,000 various grades of officers including IAS officers. They admitted though that development activities in Jharkhand were badly affected due to frequent transfers of officers.