Dissent in panel over IAS losing ‘2-year’ edge

NEW DELHI: The Seventh Pay Commission has recommended doing away with the "two-year edge" that the elite Indian Administrative Service ( IAS) enjoys over the other 36 Group A services.

The only IAS member in the pay panel, Vivek Rae, has not agreed with this overwhelming view of the commission and has sought a review of the central staffing scheme guidelines.

Chairman of the panel Justice A K Mathur and economist and member Rathin Roy, by a majority in the three-member commission, recommended that all-India services (IAS, IPS and IFoS) and other Group A officers who have completed 17 years of service should be eligible for empanelment under the central staffing scheme and the "two-year edge" presently enjoyed by the IAS should be withdrawn.

Though the 'rules' stipulate a two-year edge, the actual gap between a joint secretary from IAS and other Group A services is at least 7-10 years. It is not uncommon to find an IAS officer getting appointed to joint secretary and above grade 10 years ahead of officers of non-IAS services.

The recommendation, if accepted by the government, would see the end of the superiority of IAS in senior positions such as directors, joint secretaries, additional secretaries and secretaries in the central government.

The pay panel has also recommended that the financial edge held by IAS officers be extended to IPS and the third all-India service, the IFoS (forest service). IAS officers presently get paid more than their batch mates from other Group A services in the form of two additional increments -- 3% of basic pay -- at three promotion stages ie, promotion to the senior time scale, junior administrative grade (JAG) and non-functional selection grade. This will continue in the proposed pay matrix but will be extended to IPS and IFoS also. The pay panel said as far as the Indian Foreign Service is concerned, the existing dispensation shall continue.

Vivek Rae, however, justified the financial edge for IAS and IFS but did not agree with the view that it should be extended to IPS and IFoS.

Rathin Roy was of the view that the financial edge accorded to IAS and IFS should be removed. According to him, if this position was to be reflected through superior financial remuneration, then their recruitment must be conducted separately.