Promotion of IAS officers: Centre says state govt violated rules

PATNA: It is official now. The Bihar government has violated Rule 9(7) of IAS (Pay) Rules in promoting six IAS officer to chief secretary (CS)
rank in addition to the existing five in the same rank.

The Centre has termed this act a clear-cut violation of the said rules. Its stand on this controversial matter became clear when a Patna resident, C M Kumar, filed an application with the department of personnel and training under Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking information whether the relevant rules were adhered to while promoting so many officers to the senior most rank.

The promotions were effected on December 20 last year and at that time the state could have only six (three cadre and three ex-cadre) officers in the CS rank. Subsequently, the cadre post was increased to four by the Centre with effect from December 30, 2008. But even this increase may not be enough to justify the presence of 11 officers in CS rank, as the state can now have just eight officers (four cadre and four ex-cadre) in the CS rank.

In its reply, the Centre said that its prior approval was not taken by the Bihar government before promoting more officers to the CS rank. This, despite the fact, that IAS (Pay) Rules specifically says that the Centre's prior approval is a must if the upper limit of number of officers in the payscale of Rs 80,000 given to CS rank officers, is crossed.

Incidentally, Kumar had also filed a similar application with the public information officer (PIO) of Bihar government's department of personnel and administrative reforms, but failed to get the required information within the stipulated time.

"Instead of waiting for the state government's reply, I have decided to seek legal opinion on the basis of information provided by the Centre before taking the next step," Kumar told TOI on Wednesday.

The Centre's stand notwithstanding, the state government appears confident that its decision would be upheld. "Many junior officers of the same batch at the Centre were promoted to Rs 80,000 payscale whereas the senior ones from Bihar already empanelled as secretary, Government of India, were not given the same scale. "With no option left, we too promoted these officials as they come from All India services and the scale, which they are entitled to, cannot be withheld only on the ground that they are serving in a particular state," said a senior official of the department of personnel and administrative reforms.

The official said, this and other relevant points would be put up by the state government before the authorities concerned at an appropriate time.

Source : Times of India