Meghalaya is one of the states that has opposed the central government’s move to give itself more powers to depute IAS and IPS officers for central duty, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma informed the Assembly today.
On January 12, the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) wrote to the states on the Union’s proposal to amend Rule 6 (deputation of cadre officers) of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules 1954.
The DoPT said that the states “are not sponsoring an adequate number of officers for central deputation” and the number of officers is not sufficient to meet requirements at the Centre.
However, Sangma, in reply to a question on the issue raised by East Shillong MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh, said that, as it is, Meghalaya has a shortfall in the number of IAS and IPS officers and cannot afford to lose more to central deputation.
He informed that there are only 41 IAS officers – 23 direct recruits and 18 promoted – while the state’s sanctioned strength is 77 besides five who are on central deputation.
This is much lower than other states in the North East. “The IAS cadre strength in Manipur is 110. It is 102 in Tripura and 91 in Nagaland,” Sangma informed.
The CM also said that the state had, in 2019, written to the Centre to urge it to consider a separate cadre for Meghalaya; currently the state belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
“Since the North East Reorganisation Amendment Act 2012 divided the Manipur-Tripura cadre, we have been pushing for this and we are still pursuing this matter. If this happens, we will have more cadre strength than what we have right now,” he said.
The last time home-grown candidates cleared the Union Public Service Commission exams was 2013. In order to boost the number of Meghalayans who clear the civil service examination, the state government is planning on introducing coaching programmes for aspiring candidates, Sangma added.
