NEW DELHI: Seeking a major change in the policy related to allocation of services and cadre for 1,000 odd candidates selected every year in All India Civil Services Examination every year, the
Narendra Modi government wants candidates to undergo three-month foundation course before they join the services.
The Prime Minister’s Office (
PMO) has written to all the cadre controlling authorities/ministries and sought their comments on the possibility of probationers being allocated the service/cadre based on their performance during the foundation course.
Presently, the civil servants from 24 services, including Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Revenue Service and others are allocated cadre and services before commencement of foundation course, according to their rankings in the exam, conducted by the Union public service commission.
After the cadre and services are selected, the IAS and IFoS probationers undergo their foundation course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LSBNAA) in Mussoorie while probationers from other services are sent to academies in Mussoorie, Hyderabad and
Bhopal.
A communication sent by Department of Personnel and Training to the cadre controlling authorities, stated that “…. the PMO has desired to examine if service allocation/cadre allocation to probationers selected based on the examination be made after foundation course”.
The departments concerned have been asked to examine the feasibility of giving due weightage to the performance in the foundation course and making service allocation as well as cadre allocation to all India services officers, based on the combined score obtained in the civil services examination and the foundation course, the communique said.
TOI spoke to several serving and retired civil servants who claimed that the move has both pros and cons.
An officer said that if the foundation course is made mandatory before the cadre/service selection, then the probationers will start taking the course seriously. “A lot of newly selected civil servants take the foundation course as just a formality because they know that they have been allocated a cadre and services. When their marks/rank in
UPSC and performance in foundation course will be at stake, they will take those three months seriously,” he said.
However, the foundation course being the final benchmark for service/cadre selection has its advantages. “If a person who has studied hard to get top rankings in UPSC exam somehow performs low in the foundation course, and if he/she is denied the cadre and service he/she wanted or deserved, then it would be unfair for them”, said another officer.
If the proposal gets a go ahead and is implemented, then there should be objectivity in the selection.