IAS, IPS officers on the edge

The delay by the Department of Personnel and Training in issuing guidelines to fix their cadre State has made them tense

The IAS, IPS and Forest Service officers are on tenterhooks, not knowing whether they would be allotted to Andhra Pradesh or Telangana post bifurcation. The delay by the Department of Personnel and Training in issuing guidelines to fix their cadre State has made them tense.

The officers were expecting that outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the head of DoPT would sign the file before demitting office. But that did not happen. He left the job to his successor who will be sworn in on May 26.

Even if Mr. Narendra Modi cleared the file the same day, the guidelines are not expected to be notified by June 2, when the new States come into existence. Therefore, the administration has decided to utilise the services of 10 to 15 officers each in both States for another fortnight. The waiting game goes on.

Bouquets and brickbats

A large team of bureaucrats that made power point presentations to the Chief Ministers designate of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on the bifurcation process received both kudos and brickbats from their political bosses.

The would-be Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.Chandrababu commended the team for the good work that was being done but his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao was not happy with the distribution of employees. Emerging from the meeting at Lake View guesthouse, Mr. Rao drove straight into Raj Bhavan which was next door and took up his grouse with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.

Smooth affair

There seems to be no bitterness about the appointment of Director General of Police, at least for one of the two new States. Otherwise, it was always marred by controversy for the past few years with some IPS officers either moving the Central Administrative Tribunal or the High Court. In the process, the appointment of three previous State police chiefs was challenged in court but they had retired by the time the orders were delivered.

In this context, a similar situation was anticipated when two Directors General of Police have to be appointed in the backdrop of bifurcation. However, there are no signs of it though their selection is as good as over. The incumbent of the composite State B. Prasada Rao even hosted a lunch for his predecessors as it was clear that he was on his way out.

Most favoured States

Several IPS officers in the combined State are actively making efforts to stay put in Telangana as the possibility of getting accelerated promotion to higher ranks is more in a smaller State. As many as 25 IPS officers of the State cadre hailing from different parts of the country are understood to have opted to serve in Telangana.

In contrast, most of the IAS officers of the State cadre hailing from rest of India have opted for Andhra Pradesh in the hope that their achievements in the State at a time when it is being developed from “scratch” would add to their seniority portfolio, particularly if they go on deputation to the Centre.