New Delhi: The Central Government has unveiled a comprehensive overhaul of the Cadre Allocation Policy (CAP) for the three All India Services—Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Forest Service (IFoS). The revised policy, effective from the Civil Services and Indian Forest Service Examinations 2026, seeks to reinforce the “All India” character of the bureaucracy while ensuring a rigorous balance between merit, insider-outsider allocation, and zonal preferences.
Merit, Zonal Preferences, and National Integration at the Core
The new CAP emphasizes merit-preference balance, structured zonal allocations, and promotion of national integration through diversified cadre distribution. Under the new framework:
IAS allocations must be finalized before candidates commence the professional course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).
IPS and IFoS allocations will be finalized immediately after official appointments.
The policy is designed to ensure that the allocation process is transparent, systematic, and time-bound, leaving no ambiguity for candidates or state governments.
Determining Vacancies: Clear Timelines and Category-Wise Breakdowns
Vacancies across all All India Services will now follow a strict calendar with a transparent category-wise breakdown:
- State Responsibility: State governments must communicate total vacancies by 31 January of the year following the examination.
- Vacancy Calculation: Based on the “cadre gap” as of 1 January, with clear splits between Insider and Outsider slots and vertical reservations (SC, ST, OBC).
- EWS Consideration: Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be treated as a subset of Unreserved (UR) category and included in the roster accordingly.
- Publication: Final vacancy lists will be published on the respective ministry websites before announcement of Civil Services/IFoS results.
This structured approach ensures transparency and eliminates last-minute confusion about cadre vacancies.
Grouping of States and Cadres: Four-Cluster System
To prevent regional concentration and maintain geographic diversity, CAP divides all State and Joint Cadres into four groups:
- Group I: AGMUT, Andhra Pradesh, Assam-Meghalaya, Bihar, Chhattisgarh
- Group II: Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh
- Group III: Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu
- Group IV: Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
This clustering will form the foundation for the new preference and rotational allocation system, allowing candidates to choose from a balanced, diverse pool of cadres.
Insider Cadre Allocation: Merit and Cycle System
For candidates opting for their home states (Insider vacancies):
- Explicit opt-in is mandatory; otherwise, candidates are disqualified from the Insider pool.
- Top-ranked candidates are distributed in merit-based cycles (1–25, 26–50, etc.) to prevent clustering in a single cadre.
- General merit (UR) candidates may claim Insider vacancies, and if unavailable, they may opt for reserved category vacancies.
- Any unfilled Insider vacancy may be filled by rank-based category exchanges (ST → SC → OBC), provided a corresponding Outsider vacancy exists.
- Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) get priority for allocation adjustments.
- Unfilled Insider vacancies cannot be carried forward and are converted into Outsider vacancies for that year.
This ensures a fair and merit-based distribution while retaining the home-state preference.
Outsider Cadre Allocation: Merit, Rotation, and PwBD Priority
For candidates not opting for home-state cadres (Outsiders):
- PwBD Candidates: Prioritized immediately after Insider allocations, and if no vacancy exists in their preferred cadre, an additional vacancy may be created.
- Non-PwBD Candidates: Allocations follow a rotational cycle system across the four state groups. Each cycle starts with a different group to maintain long-term equity.
- If an Outsider candidate lands in their home state by mistake, they are exchanged with the next candidate to preserve Outsider status.
This system ensures merit-based rotation while upholding the principle of geographic diversity.
Bridging the Reservation Gap
A special mechanism addresses unfilled vacancies for reserved category candidates:
If UR vacancies remain unfilled because top-ranked reserved candidates chose their home state, the remaining reserved candidates are absorbed into UR vacancies based on merit.
This ensures no loss of opportunity for either reserved or general category candidates while maintaining cadre equilibrium.
Annual Rotation: Long-Term Fairness
The CAP introduces rotational mechanics for future batches, ensuring that no group of states gains an undue advantage over others in successive recruitment cycles. This systematic rotation is intended to maintain fairness and national integration across all services.
