Stagnation in civil services? Cadre review cases pending for 40 years: Govt

All the cadre controlling authorities are requested to submit cadre review proposals

The cases of cadre review of some civil services have been pending for over 40 years, the government has said.

Irked over the delay in finalising the cadre review proposals, the Personnel Ministry has now formulated a model calendar for reviewing the civil services.

According to norms, there has to be a review of all central services like the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Revenue Service (IFS) ideally once in every five years.

Despite the said instructions and repeated reminders, it has been observed that the said periodicity is not followed. The cadre review in some cases is pending for even more than 40 years, the ministry said in a recent order.

All cadre controlling authorities like the External Affairs Ministry for the IFS and so on, have been asked to follow the new model calendar formed by the Personnel Ministry strictly.

All the cadre controlling authorities are therefore requested to submit cadre review proposals in accordance with the calendar without any exemption.

"For other services, which has not been mentioned in the calendar and the cadre review is not due, the cadre controlling authority concerned may submit their proposal in accordance with the cadre review guidelines, as and when they feel that the cadre review is required, it said.

The proposals of 14 Group A services like the Indian Railway Personnel Service, Indian Railway Traffic Service, Railway Protection Force and Indian Economic Service are under consideration of the government.

A cadre review is required to keep the personnel policies relevant to current and future needs and to check stagnation and ensure career progression of officers, a senior Personnel Ministry official explained.