The Government of India has abolished the J&K cadre for IAS, IPS and IFS and merged it into AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre.
As per a notification by Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the President of India promulgated an ordinance to abolish the J&K cadre.
“The members of the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service for the existing cadre of Jammu and Kashmir, shall be borne and become part of the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories cadre, and all future allocations of Indian Services officers for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh shall be made to Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union
Territories cadre for which necessary modifications may be made in corresponding cadre allocation rules by the Central government,” reads the notification.
“The officers so borne or allocated on Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories cadre shall function in accordance with the rules framed by the central government,” it adds.
The J&K cadre of the All India Services ceased to exist for fresh inductees when the Modi government downgraded the state into union territories, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, after the scrapping of Article 370 in August 2019.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which came into force in October 2019, the cadre was to be merged into the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre. The law, however, stated that officers already serving in the J&K cadre at the time would continue in the existing cadre. Now after the merger the existing J&K cadre officers will be part of AGMUT cadre.
The cadre-controlling authority of AGMUT is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), while that for all other state cadres is the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
The States of the Union of India are divided into 24 cadres/Joint Cadres. Each State constitutes a cadre except the three Joint Cadres, namely, Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur-Tripura and AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories) Cadre.
Jammu and Kashmir IAS cadre strength is 137 officers. Against the 137 sanctioned strength (in the erstwhile state of J&K), only 62 are available, of which 53 are serving, eight are on deputation and one has forwarded his resignation.