Editorial: Diluting States’ power

Never in the recent past the threat to federalism was as serious as it is now. The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has been systematically undermining the spirit of federalism by usurping the rights of the States and taking unilateral and arbitrary decisions. On every issue with federal ramifications, it has been arbitrary and insensitive while pushing its agenda instead of taking the consensus route and trying to get the States on board. The latest provocation comes from a rather innocuous source: amendments to the rules pertaining to the deputation of IAS officers to the Centre. The proposed changes are designed to allow the Centre to exercise greater control over the civil servants. According to the proposed amendment, an officer whom the union government wishes to put on deputation would “stand relieved” from his or her respective cadre within a stipulated time, irrespective of that State government’s consent. The new rules will also make it mandatory for the States to provide a specific number of IAS officers to the Centre on deputation every year and in the case of a disagreement between the Centre and a State, the matter would be decided by the Centre ‘within a specified time’. Such an approach makes a mockery of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-hyped invocation of “Team India” spirit to describe the nature of governance. Understandably, many States are opposed to the new rules.

While the Department of Personnel and Training has claimed that the amendments seek to overcome the shortage of IAS officers in the union government, the new rules would end up undermining the power of States to veto New Delhi’s request for officers. In the last few years, there has been a growing tendency to centralisation of powers, be it in the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, devolution of taxes to the States or framing guidelines for the management of the Covid-19 pandemic. On the issue of IAS cadre rules, the Centre needs to work in a spirit of collaboration with the State governments and must avoid confrontation at all costs. The States contend that it is their right to post officers as per their requirements, and that administration and policy implementation would be affected by an annual, compulsory deputation of officers to the Centre. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has termed the proposed amendments as draconian, saying they are against the spirit of cooperative federalism. Kerala has also said it would oppose the amendments if they infringed on the cardinal principle of federalism, while reports from Maharashtra say the government would contest the changes. For the civil servants to discharge their duties to the best of their abilities, they must be free of the fear of compulsory posting.