Telangana to have administrative services of its own?

The fundamental idea is to form a separate cadre with around 200 employees, mostly Group-1 officers.

HYDERABAD:  The State could soon have officers in the Telangana Administrative Services (TAS). The government is likely to come out with a TAS Act for the formation of the cadre. The idea of an administrative service has been on the government’s mind for the past few years, but momentum towards it has finally picked up. “We have two ideas. One is to take only Revenue employees into the TAS. The other is to give opportunities to senior employees of all departments,” said a senior official in the Secretariat. 

The fundamental idea is to form a separate cadre with around 200 employees, mostly Group-1 officers. These officials would then be given cadre-posts such as those of district collectors and chairpersons of various corporations. The need for such a move comes with the shortage of IAS officers. Against a sanctioned cadre-strength of 208 IAS officers, the State currently has only 150. Some of them are working on Central deputation and also in other States such as Andhra Pradesh. 

The TAS cadres, once formed, will help the government administer the State effectively, rather than depending only on IAS officers. According to sources, around 200 officials would be inducted into the TAS in the coming three years; 70 would be inducted in the first and second years.  The maximum age for Group-1 officers seeking a place in the TAS will be 45. Another condition for them would be that they will need a minimum experience of five years. 

The responsibility to select TAS officers would be given to a new agency, or to the TSPSC. Sources said at least five TAS officials will be appointed in each district for effective implementation of government schemes. 

When asked about objections that could possibly be raised by Revenue employees to inclusion of employees from other departments in the TAS, a senior functionary in the government told Express: “When Revenue employees get promoted as IAS officers, they seldom have any knowledge about anything other than their own departments. They are not able to discharge their duties due to lack of knowledge in other departments.

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