The Centre pulled up Nagaland Government last month for posting non-IAS officers as District Collectors/Magistrates (Deputy Commissioners in Nagaland) in 6 of its 11 districts, contravening the All India Service Rules.
According to a report in the newsportal, ThePrint, in the letter addressed to Nagaland Chief Secretary, Temjen Toy, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said that the postings were “in violation of Rule 9 of IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954.
“Further, it has been observed that there is no shortage of suitable IAS officers,” noted the letter dated June 1, a copy of which was seen by ThePrint.
It listed the names of at least 9 IAS officers who are posted to ex-cadre (a temporary post created by the Government with the same rank as a regular cadre post) or subordinate posts instead of being appointed as DCs.
Rule 9 of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, states: “A cadre post in a state shall not be filled by a person who is not a cadre officer, with certain exceptions.” And according to Rule 9(2), the “exceptions” are intended to be short-term measures and require that the state government shall duly obtain the prior approval of the central government.
The rules go on to state that when cadre officers is available for the post, non-cadre officers must be replaced by them. The DoPT letter urged the Nagaland Government to replace the 6 non-cadre officers with any 6 of the 9 IAS officers available, but there has been no reply from the State Government, an IAS officer from the State told the newsportal.
“It is in complete contravention of rules that non-IAS officers are being appointed as DMs in the state when IAS officers are available… It is also the root-cause of several governance problems in the state, since there is complete arbitrariness in who occupies these crucial positions,” said the officer, who didn’t want to be named.
The report stated that Nagaland Chief Secretary, Temjen Toy did not respond to phone calls and text messages of the ThePrint.
It may be mentioned that Governor of Nagaland RN Ravi had written a letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on June 16 last highlighting misgovernance.
“Important law and order decisions like transferring and posting of officials entrusted with maintenance of law and order responsibilities of and above the district level will be after the approval of the governor,” he had proposed. The Governor had also preferred to review the Annual Performance Appraisal Reports of all such officers in order to instill and ensure accountability.