Centre to discuss arbitrary transfers of babus with states

The Centre will discuss with states the issue of "frequent and arbitrary transfers" of all- India services officers by them besides other administrative and personnel matters during a meeting later this month.
The issues related to pending complaints against IAS officers, cases for grant of prosecution sanction and overstay of deputation period by the civil servants will also be discussed during the meeting scheduled on September 27 between the officials of Ministry of Personnel and principal secretaries of personnel department of the states.
"The stability of the all India service officers, especially in the states, has been a subject of concern for a long time now.

"Frequent and arbitrary transfers of officers before completing a reasonable tenure on any post have always been considered as a major reason for the declining standards of administration," said an agenda note circulated to all states today by the Ministry of Personnel.
The Centre will also try to ensure adherence to "minimum tenure policy" for bureaucrats by some states during the meeting.
According to rules, state governments are supposed to determine minimum tenure for their cadre posts.
There is a varying degree of compliance for minimum tenure policy by some states as many of them have yet not implemented the policy and therefore it needs to be discussed to ensure there is no unjust treatment to any officer of the elite services, a Ministry official said.

It is pertinent to mention that associations of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) have recently demanded from the government a policy decision to check arbitrary transfer of officers.