As states such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu oppose Centre’s new proposal to change cadre rules for the Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS), after the tussle over the cadre rule change in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), several bureaucrats, seeking transfers due to their marriage, are fighting court battles.
For long, bureaucrats have not only faced deputations but even their transfer cases have taken a hit due to the tiff between the Centre and states. Several bureaucrats have spent years fighting their transfer cases. According to sources, there are 14 to 15 officers on average whose marriage transfers get stuck in bureaucracy.
When two officers of All India Service (AIS) get married, anyone can opt to stay with another.
The rule says, “Change of Cadre of All India Service officers -Policy (2004) Change of cadre of All India Service officers is governed by Rule 5 (2) of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 and analogous Rules in the IFS (Cadre) Rules, 1966. 5 (2) The Central Government may, with the concurrence of the state governments concerned, transfer a cadre officer from one cadre to another cadre.”
