The All India Services and Cadre Deputation

Rekha Saxena writes:

The federal operating framework in India is institution­alised by bureaucracy. The federal division of legislative and executive roles and responsibilities has three distinct categories of administration in India. So, we have the central services of the union government, state services of the state governments, and a unique cadre of administrative officers called the All India Services (AIS). These officers are recruited and trained by the Union Public Service Commission, an autonomous constitutional commission, and then allocated to the state governments with an occasional deputation to the union government. These services serve both the centre and the state governments. The indispensability of these services cannot be denied as they bind the administrative functioning of a diverse and vast country like India into an integrated whole. Depending upon which level of government they are serving at a specific time, these officers function under the disciplinary jurisdiction of those governments. However, when it comes to their suspension and dismissal, a reference to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs is mandatory.