‘Outside’ government officials want state choice

Hyderabad: The allocation of All India Service officers between Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh is becoming further complicated after objections by “outside” IAS officers.

Some IAS officers are planning to go to court to get a stay order if the final allocations are made against their wishes.

A senior IAS officer working in the AP government held discussions with with some of the IAS officers working at the Central government.

Their main objections are dividing the AIS officers and categorising them as as “insiders” and “outsiders”. They are questioning  that if “insider” (locals of TS or AP) IAS officers were given the chance to choose the state they want to work in, why are “outsider” IAS officers not  being given the chance to choose?

He said, based on nativity, some IAS officers were identified as “insiders” of TS and AP and got a chance to choose the state they wanted to work in. In the same manner,  why can’t non-local IAS officers also identify their nativity and be given a chance to work in their native state.  

He added that if it is believed that those who belong to other states are “outsiders”, why should they work in TS or AP?

“They are AIS officers and they have to work in other states also. If an IAS officer belonging to another state is allotted to AP, they should be asked whether they want to work in their preferred state and be posted to that state.” Some officers pointed out that as per rules, of the total strength of IAS officers allotted to a state,  two or three must be non-locals and one to three  must be local IAS officers. This rule was violated in the allotment of IAS officers to both states.

In Chandigarh, some IAS officers were posted against their wishes and they went to court and got stay orders, and are still not working said one IAS officer. “We also will go to court and get a stay if they allot against our wish” said one senior IAS officer.