Services and State Services

Services and State Services A unique feature of the Indian Administration System, is the creation of certain services common to both - the Centre and the States, namely, the All India Services. These are composed of officers who are in the exclusive employment of neither Centre nor the States, and may at any time be at the disposal of either. The officers of these Services are recruited on an all-India basis with common qualifications and uniform scales of pay, and notwithstanding their division among the States, each of them forms a single service with a common status and a common standard of rights and remuneration. Like other federal polities, the Centre and the constituent states, under the Indian Constitution, have their separate public services to administer their respective affairs. Thus, there are Central or Union Services to administer Union subjects, like defence, income tax, customs, posts and telegraphs, railways, etc. The officers of these Services are exclusively in the employment of the Union Government. Similarly, the States have their own separate and independent services. All India Services The Constitution provides for the creation of All India Services (AIS) common to the Union and the States. The All India Services Act, provides that the Central Government may make rules for regulating the recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed to the All India Services. Presently only the IAS, the IPS and the IFS (Indian Forest Service) have been constituted as All India Services. Recruitment to these services is made under the corresponding AIS Recruitment Rules and may be done by Direct Recruitment (through Competitive Examinations) and by promotion from the State Service . The AIS Branch is concerned with the latter mode of recruitment which is governed by the respective IAS/IPS/IFS Promotion Regulations. What are the different modes of recruitment to the All India Services? There are two modes of recruitment to the All India Services; (i) Direct Recruitment: Through the Civil Services Examination for IAS and IPS and the Indian Forest Service Examination for the IFS. These Examinations are conducted