By Desaraju Surya
AMARAVATI: For the first time in decades, no Indian Administrative Service officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre will be in a Secretary-level post in the Government of India after Sumita Dawra of the 1991 batch retires on March 31 as Union Labour Secretary.
It may take a few more months for Anil Kumar Singhal of the 1993 batch, who is currently Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Education, to be elevated to Secretary rank.
Though three more IAS officers of AP cadre are serving in GoI in the Additional Secretary rank, it will be a few more years for them to become secretaries as they belong to much later batches.
At least half a dozen IAS officers from Andhra Pradesh, prior to bifurcation, regularly used to occupy coveted Secretary-level posts in the Centre and command a lot of authority and respect.
Post-bifurcation, though, the scene started changing and number of AP cadre IAS officers occupying prime posts in the Government of India began dwindling.
In fact, empanelment to the Secretary-level posts in GoI itself has become too sparse for AP officers.
Of the about 26 officers, who could have been eligible, only a mere six made the cut since 2014.
Majority of over 25 other officers did not even make it to the Additional Secretary grade at the Centre because of various factors, including adverse service record.
Given the ‘shortage’ of IAS officers in the state, the successive governments have not been allowing Central deputation of junior level officers in the Director and Joint Secretary ranks, thereby curtailing their prospects for elevation to higher ranks in GoI.
There are now eight IAS officers of AP cadre empanelled for Additional Secretary posts, of whom four are serving at the Centre.
At the Joint Secretary level, 16 IAS and three IPS officers have been empanelled. But, only two IAS and one IPS officer are on deputation in these posts.
“IAS is not about doing Additional Secretary and Secretary posts (at the Centre) but impactful Principal Secretary and Special Chief Secretary posts (in the states),” a retired IAS officer observed.
Since 2014, a total of 19 IAS officers went on deputation to the Centre in ranks from Director to Secretary. Of them, eight returned to the state cadre and three retired from service. Another (Secretary) is set to retire in a fortnight while seven are now in Central service.
Some IAS officers, though, are apparently making the Centre their refuge whenever a political regime inimical to them takes the reins in the state. They gleefully return to the state once the regime changes.
Elevation to higher ranks like Additional Secretary and Secretary becomes difficult to impossible unless the officers serve in Joint Secretary rank at the Centre and establish a good service record.
With the state government reluctant to relieve officers at the Director and Joint Secretary levels to serve in the GoI, their career progression is getting stuck in the parent cadre only.
The Centre has been asking the states to spare Director and JS-rank officers, given the dearth of officers in GoI, but to no avail.
Some right-minded officers feel stifled as they often unwittingly get clutched in the political whims.