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All states have been asked by the Centre to nominate more women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe IAS and IPS officers for central deputation to meet the shortfall.
Besides, they have been reminded that withdrawal of nomination at a later stage will debar officers from central deputation for five years and also from foreign postings.
"Sufficient names of women and SC, ST and OBC officers may be sponsored so that adequate representation can be provided to them on posts under the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS)," a communication to all states and cadre controlling authorities by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
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The Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) of each state cadre determines the extent to which officers could be sent on deputation to the government of India. "Not only that the CDR is low, most of the states fail to achieve the proportionate CDR by a wide margin," it said, while asking them to take steps to meet the shortfall.
There is a general shortage of IAS officers at Deputy Secretary and Director level and, therefore, you may like to recommend a sufficiently large number of officers for appointment to these posts so as to share the shortage proportionately between the Centre and the states, the communication said.
"You would agree that the movement of the officers from the states to the Centre and back is also crucial for building up the capabilities at the state level and contributing towards developing national perspectives at the decision- making levels in the government of India.
"It would, therefore, be appropriate if a conscious attempt is made to forward the names of officers for deputation under government of India in such a manner that every eligible officer has an opportunity to serve at the Centre at least once at the middle management level," the DoPT said.
It has been further decided that preference for appointment at the level of Joint Secretary will be given to those officers who have already done a central deputation at the level of Deputy Secretary or Director, it said.
The DoPT said that very often the cadre-controlling
authorities withdraw the names of officers from offer at a later stage.
"This results in undue delay in the placement of officers under the CSS, which is not in public interest. Therefore, you are earnestly requested to ensure that an officer, once placed on the offer list, continues to be available for consideration throughout the year," the communique said.
The Centre has been following a policy of debarring an officer for five years, if, he or she fails to join the post under the CSS either on personal grounds or the refusal of the cadre to relieve him. It may be noted that withdrawal of the name of an officer after a panel has been recommended by the Civil Services Board results in debarment for five years, it said.
"An officer who is debarred from being taken on deputation to a post under the CSS is also to be debarred from being given cadre clearance for foreign assignments or consultancies abroad during the period of debarment.
"Therefore the nomination of officers debarred from central deputation may not be forwarded for appointment to posts under the CSS till the period of debarment is over," the DoPT said.
Officers from all India services like Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS) and Group A services like Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and Indian Audit and Account Service (IAAS), among others, are called for central deputation.
