New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister, on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the proposed amendment in the IAS cadre rules, calling them “draconian and non-federal”. The Chief Minister wrote against the rules for the second time this month and urged the PM to withdraw the proposed amendments.
Referring to her earlier letter written on January 13, Banerjee said “I have to write again, further reiterating my point, because Central Government has further accentuated its stand, proposing yet another revised draft, taking matter to further non-federal extremes. I find the revised amendment proposal more draconian than the former,” she added.
“The moot point of the further revised draft amendment proposal is that an officer, whom the Central government may choose to take out of a State to any part of the country without taking his/her consent and without the agreement of the State government…is going to destroy the morale and freedom of the All-India service officers,” Banerjee stated in her letter.
Requesting PM Modi to reconsider the move by the Central Government, Mamata Banerjee further said, “I request you not to push to the point of greater movements on the issue to protect the soul of this great democracy that India is and has been… Its adverse consequences would be endemic, permanent and irreversible.”
It has been reported that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) wrote to the States on January 12 that the Union government proposes to amend Rule 6 (deputation of cadre officers) of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules 1954, and that at least six state governments had written to the DoPT opposing any such move, which includes the states governed by the BJP and its allies.
