The service records of over 1,100 officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) have been reviewed by the Centre in about past four years to check deadwood from the government, officials said Friday.
The review was done by the central government following astrict criteria with respect to officers who had completed 25 years of serviceor attained 50 years of age, they said.
The review of service records of a total of 1,143 IASofficers was carried out under Rule 16 (3) of All India Services(Death-cum-Retirement Benefits ) Rules, 1958 during 2015 and 2018 to checknon-performers, the officials said.
The rules says that the central government in consultationwith the state government concerned may ask an IAS officer to retire in publicinterest by giving at least three months previous notice in writing or threemonths’ pay and allowances in lieu of such notice.
Of the total of 1,143 officers, four — two from Chhattisgarh cadre, one each fromArunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (or AGMUT cadre) andBihar cadre– were recommended for premature retirement from the service inpublic interest, they said, without disclosing the names of the officersconcerned.
As many as 5,104 officers of the IAS, considered the ‘steelframe’ of India, are working across the country, according to a PersonnelMinistry data.
The officials said there are many states who had not carriedout the review despite the Centre’s reminder.
“The states of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Tripura and Uttarakhand have not carried outintensive review of record of officers in respect of 25 years of service,”a senior official said citing an official data.
He said timely review of service record was necessay tocheck corruption and deadwood from the governance.
“The central government has been following a policy ofzero tolerance towards corruption. At the same time it is necessary to conducta thorough review of officers so that they do not lack in performing their dutytowards people. Those found non-performing need to bid good bye from thegovernment service and the ones performing need to be rewarded to ensure godgovernance,” the official added.