The Centre on Monday took strong exception of Nagaland Government’s last month posting of non-IAS officers as district collectors/magistrates or deputy commissioners in 6 of its 11 districts, contravening the All India Service Rules.
According to reports, in the letter addressed to Nagaland chief secretary, Temjen Toy, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said the postings were ‘in violation of Rule 9 of IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954’.
“Further, it has been observed that there is no shortage of suitable IAS officers,” noted the letter dated June 1.
It listed the names of at least nine IAS officers who are posted to ex-cadre (a temporary post created by the Government with the same rank as a regular cadre post) or subordinate posts instead of being appointed as deputy commissioners.
Rule 9 of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, states: “A cadre post in a state shall not be filled by a person who is not a cadre officer, with certain exceptions.”
And according to Rule 9(2), the ‘exceptions’ are intended to be short-term measures and require that the State Government shall duly obtain the prior approval of the Central Government.
The rules go on to state that when cadre officers is available for the post, non-cadre officers must be replaced by them.
The DoPT letter urged the Nagaland Government to replace the six non-cadre officers with any six of the nine IAS officers available, but there has been no reply from the State Government, according to sources.
Notably, Nagaland Governor RN Ravi had written a letter to chief minister Neiphiu Rio on June 16 last highlighting misgovernance.