Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to drop the proposed amendment in deputation rules for the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers.
Many opposition-ruled states including West Bengal and Maharashtra have already expressed their strong reservations over the proposal saying it will weaken federal structure of the country. In the letter the CM said deputation rules are already loaded in favour of the Centre and the proposed amendment “will induce a fear psychosis among civil servants and create hesitancy among them to implement policies formulated by states ruled by parties that are politically opposed to the policies of the party at the Centre.”
“The present deputation rules are themselves heavily loaded in favour of the Union and bringing further stringency will weaken the very root of co-operative federalism. The government of Kerala is of the opinion that the proposed amendments may be dropped,” he said in the letter adding it will weaken the federal polity of the country.
“We need to recognise that in a vibrant democratic and federal polity, states and Centre can be ruled by political formations with different ideologies. But these governments function within the framework of the Constitution,” he pointed out in the letter.
At least five states have sent letters to the Union government opposing the proposed changes. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has sent two letters in this regard saying the “Centre was taking the matter to non-federal extremes.” The proposed amendments to the cadre rules 1954 seek to change the norms for central deputation of IAS and IPS officers from different states.
