In the stern directive issued to secretaries of all central government ministries and chief secretaries of states, he said a number of instances has come to notice where officers stay on foreign assignments beyond their approved tenures.
"This trend needs to be discouraged by ensuring strict action against errant officers as per extant policy," Sinha said.
An officer of three all India services--Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS)--among others, can stay a maximum of five years on foreign deputation. A plan to increase the deputation period to seven years is under consideration of the Centre.
The state governments should also forward a proposal to the cadre controlling authority concerned i.E. Department of Personnel and Training for IAS officers; Home Ministry for IPS and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for IFoS for taking further action on the issue, he said.
"Cadre controlling authorities are once again impressed upon to ensure that extant provisions in this matter are strictly followed and that the officers are made aware of the implications of overstay before they are relieved for taking up their foreign assignments.