Joining the chorus of dissent, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday, January 24, shot off a letter to the Union government expressing "strong protest" against the proposed amendments to the All India Services (Cadre) Rules 1954.
The proposal is clearly a move to exercise indirect control by the central government on officers working in the states and would also render state governments as helpless entities in matters of the AIS officers, KCR alleged in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A handful of non-BJP ruled states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan — had earlier opposed the move, with the respective Chief Ministers writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make their stand clear against the proposed amendments.
"On the face of it, the proposed amendments militate against the federal structure of our Constitution, both in letter and spirit. Further, the proposed amendments will also seriously erode the All India Service character of the IAS, IPS and IFS. Telangana government, therefore, strongly opposes the proposed amendments," Rao said.
The move “amounts to interfering in the functioning of the state governments, targeted harassment of officers and their demoralization, besides, impacting accountability of officials to the state governments,” he further opined.
The proposal is a dangerous move which is against the constitutional framework and spirit of cooperative federalism and if the proposed amendments are implemented by the Union government, the state governments would be reduced to insignificant entities, KCR said.
The proposed amendment to the All India Services (Cadre) Rules 1954 is nothing but amending the Constitution of India relating to the relations between states and the Union government, he said. Instead of such a backdoor method of amending the AIS rules, the Union government should muster courage to amend the provisions by the Parliament, he added.
"The present provisions of AIS Cadre Rules are adequate to ensure harmonious and balanced deployment of officers. Therefore I demand government of India to cease and desist from the proposed amendments in the interest of administrative fairness and federal policy of our Constitution," he said.
Referring to Article 368 (2), Rao said the Union government’s proposal will be violating the spirit of the Constitution which is highly objectionable.
Alleging that the proposal shows scant regard to the administrative exigencies and requirements of the states, the CM said the proposed amendments threaten the spirit of mutual adjustment and accommodation between states and the Union government in the matters of shared All India Services and will further strain the relationship between the state and Union government.