State civil services officers need to face exam for promotion to IAS

New Delhi: State civil services officers will now have to face a Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) test and interview for their promotion to the three All India Services.

Till now, the selection of state services officers into the three All India Services (IAS, IPS and IFoS) was being done on the basis of review of their seniority and Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs).

The Ministry of Personnel recently changed the rules for promotion from state services. The move was opposed by some states including Tamil Nadu. The selection to IAS, IPS and IFoS from states' services will be made through a 1000 marks four-stage process including a written exam and interview.

As per new norms, a state civil service officer will have to face the written examination comprising two papers-- Paper I on aptitude test and Paper II on General Studies and state specific questions.

In addition, there will be an interview and assessment of ACR by a board for such officers.

"A final merit list shall be prepared taking into account all the marks obtained in four components i.e., 'written examination', 'length of service', 'assessment of ACR' and 'interview' by all the candidates in the zone of consideration," the new rules said.

There will be a third written paper on essay, comprehension and precis type only for non state civil services officers in addition to two papers, they said. 

The weightage of written examination would be 30 per cent, length of service 25 per cent, ACR 25 per cent and interview 20 per cent, they said.

An officer should have eight years of a 'Group A' service in a state for all categories (IAS, IPS and IFoS) and must be less than 54 years of age. However, there has not been any cap on the number of attempts.

The rules also leaves to the discretion of authorities to consider bringing down the maximum age for taking the examination by interested candidates.

"The scheme could be reviewed after its implementation for three years," the rules said. The Personnel Ministry had in May this year written to all states seeking their views to make changes in existing rules to select officers from states for three All India Services-— Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).

The move has come on the recommendation of Administrative Reforms Commission and the UPSC which suggested changes in the existing system.

The total strength of IAS is 6,217 (4,313 through direct recruitment and 1,904 through promotion).

Of these, 4,737 officers are in position (3,398 direct recruitment and 1,339 via promotion). As many as 3,637 IPS officers and 2,700 IFoS personnel are working across the country.