Odisha seems to be slipping down to the bottom of the chart of the States sending IAS officers on deputation to the Centre, and this has left many officers in a worried state.
Sources in know of the development said a number of IAS officers are interested to pursue their career in the Union Government as they find it difficult to get empanelled to higher ranks by not going to the Centre.
Recently, even as several IAS officers applied for Central deputation and State deputation, all of them were denied the permission to apply for Central deputation leaving them in a state of worry as the State Government denied them the opportunity.
As many IAS officers are not getting enough scope to show their expertise in the State, they prefer to go for Central deputation.
Secondly, those who are in rank of Joint Secretary in the Union Government, for them it becomes impossible to get promotion to Additional Secretary rank unless they serve in the Centre.
This is precisely the reason for many Joint Secretary rank officers, serving in the State in the rank of Secretary and Principal Secretary to show keenness to join the Union Government.
However, sources said the State Government has taken a decision not to allow any IAS officer from the State for Central deputation. On the other hand, the State Government has asked the Union Government to allocate more number of young IAS officers to the State as their services are required much.
As per latest figures as on April 1, Odisha only had 20 IAS officers on Central deputation against a Central Deputation Reserve (CDR) of 51 IAS officers that should be serving from Odisha cadre. This showed utilization of CDR by Odisha only to the tune of 40 per cent.
As a result, representation of Odisha in the Union Government is going down, and this will affect the interest of the State, feel many senior IAS officers.
Every State is supposed to send a certain proportion of its cadre IAS officers to the Centre for deputation – it is termed as the CDR. The only two other States performing worse than Odisha in this respect is West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Mamata Banerjee led TMC Government in West Bengal has sent only 12 IAS against the CDR of 78.
Meanwhile, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said the movement of the officers from the States to the Centre and back is crucial for building capabilities at the State-level and contributing towards developing national perspectives at the decision-making levels in the Government of India.
However, the Odisha Government does not seem to be inclined to even allow Deputy Secretary/Director level IAS officers to the Centre, said sources.