NEW DELHI:The Centre is drafting new rules for IAS, IPS and IFS officers, whereby if they overstay on foreign assignments for more than a month, it would result in their dismissal from service. The draft guidelines under the All India Service (leave) rules are being finalised in the backdrop of several cases reported in the past few years where babus did not report back to duty after foreign postings.
The most recent case was that of Prashant, an IAS officer of the 1998 batch who went missing after completing his posting in Washington in 2010. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) processed his file on March 31, 2015 for deemed resignation and issued a notification. As per the draft rules, officers will be given a one-month period at the end of their foreign assignment or leave period within which they must return to duty. After that, the state government, under whose cadre the said officer works, shall issue a show cause notice, thereby giving the officer the opportunity to explain his case.
If the officer does not return even after issuance of show cause notice, the state government shall initiate proceedings to deem him/her as having resigned, under rule 7(2) of the AIS (Leave) Rules, 1955. The state government shall then forward a proposal to the Centre to effect the deemed resignation within two months.
The proposed draft rules said: “If the state government fails to comply with these instructions and adhere to the aforesaid timeline, the central government shall initiate proceedings of the deemed resignation on its own.”
At the Centre, IAS officers fall under DoPT, IPS officers under the Home Ministry, and IFS officers under the Ministry of Environment.
In 2012, the Centre cracked the whip against 23 IAS and one IPS officer for violating the rules, and they were deemed as having resigned from the service.