Govt to check backdoor entry to IAS

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 19

The government has moved in to check backdoor entry to the prestigious Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from the non-state civil service.

Sources said the state government had decided to designate the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) as the nodal agency for short listing panels for elevation to the IAS for gazetted officers, except Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers, with a view to ensuring transparency and merit.

“On the basis of the written examination, a panel of eligible candidates will be drawn by the HPSC to be sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for final selection,” a government functionary said.

Currently, there are three ways for entry into the prestigious IAS. First, the IAS officer is selected through direct recruitment on the basis of all-India examination conducted by the UPSC.

Second, there is elevation from the state civil service. Third, there is entry of non-state civil service gazetted officers from the state government, who are recommended by the state government to the UPSC for final selection.

Giving the rationale behind the new criteria, the functionary said this had been done to ensure transparency and provide a level-playing field to all eligible candidates aspiring to become IAS officers.

In the past, the criteria for selection to the panel to be sent to the UPSC by the state government had raised many an eyebrow, leading to legal complications.

In 2017, the recommendation of the names of Asha Sharma, daughter of then Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, and Lajpat Rai, brother of Santosh Yadav, then Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker, to fill one IAS seat from among the non-state civil service officers had raked up a controversy.

According to IAS recruitment rules, the Central Government, on the recommendation of the state government and in consultation with the UPSC, may elevate to the IAS “any person of outstanding ability and merit” who holds a gazetted post in the state government.

Haryana’s total authorised IAS cadre strength is 205, of which 62 posts are to be filled by promotion. While 38 HCS officers were recently elevated to the IAS, nine posts could be filled from among non-state civil service officers.

However, it was unlikely that all vacant posts could be filled from non-state civil service in one go, the functionary added.