A clash over the use of cadre acronym “IFS” between two groups of elite civil services — the Indian Foreign Service and Indian Forest Service — whose exams are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), has reached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

In between, a series of exchange of communication continues between the Minister of State for Personnel Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Forest and Environment Ashwini Choubey and Indian Forest Service Officers Association (IFSOA).

The forest service cadre has alleged that the use of “IFoS” for them is detrimental to their morale. Both the cadres are now fighting for the acronyms with the forest service claiming that it was allotted to their services through a Government Gazette way back in 1920. On the other hand, the foreign service is claiming that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has recognised their officers as IFS, and hence the forest service officers are being mentioned as IFoS.

Following a protest by the IFOSA, Choubey shot off a letter on August 30 to his colleague in the Council of Ministers Dr Jitendra Singh pointing the mistake repeatedly being committed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Choubey said that instead of using the “IFS” terminology for the forest service officers, the DoPT is using “IFoS” for them and requested that DoPT should be immediately directed to rectify the persistent error and use the acronym “IFS” exclusively for the Indian Forest Service Officers.

“The use of IFoS instead of IFS for forest service cadre is affecting the morale of the officers,” Choubey said in his letter to Singh.

The India Forest Service Association has been raising this issue with the DoPT for the last many years through several representations. In a response to their first petition in December 2016, the DoPT clarified that the foreign service was created in 1946 and since then IFS is being used for the cadre, whereas the forest service came into existence much later in 1966.

But now the association has dished out notifications that forest service cadre was created in 1916, and the first batch of forest officer probationers in 1920 were termed as IFS. The association has attached the necessary documentations in their representations to the Ministry of Personnel and the PMO for their perusal and consideration.

“Each of the Civil Services has a designated full name by which it was instituted through an Act of Parliament. The names being distinctive and unique the question of ambiguousness or confusion stemming there from does not arise. The abbreviated service nomenclature or the acronyms do not derive their rationale from or owe their genesis to the executive orders.  In view of all these, the matter needs to be examined from some circumstantial stand points such as usage, historical, legal, logical and precedence angle,” the forest officers association letter said.