Rules for an IAS Officer Changing his Allocated Cadre

Once an IAS aspirant is through all the three levels of the Civil Services exam, the next thing on his/her mind is the Cadre Allocation. Many of you aspirants might be trying to find an answer to “Can an IAS officer change his cadre?”. 

Generally, an IAS/IPS officer cannot get his home cadre. However, there is a very slim chance of it. This is possible only if you get a very high rank and then there are vacancies in your home state for your category in that year. In addition, you should have given your first preference as your home state. On top of that, the government maintains an outsider to insider ratio of IAS officers in a state as 2:1.

So, as you can see, there is a very minute chance of an IAS officer being allocated his home cadre. In other cases, the home state is never allocated to the candidate. There are a few instances wherein an officer can change his cadre. This article talks about how an IAS officer can change his allocated cadre. You will also get ideas on how to get home cadre in IAS.

Also read | Rules of cadre allotment

Rules of cadre-changing in the civil services are given below:

• An officer can request for a change in his cadre on marriage to another officer of a different cadre.
• Here, he would not be allowed his home cadre.
• In case of inter-cadre transfer on grounds of marriage, first attempt should be to ensure that the cadre of his spouse accepts the officer.
• If both spouse’s cadres don’t accept either of the officers, the government will consider transfer to a third cadre.
• This kind of inter-cadre transfer is possible only if both spouses are IAS officers. It is not permitted if an IAS officer marries any other central/state/public sector undertaking employee.
• Change of cadre on grounds of extreme hardships is also permitted. Even here, transfer to home state is not allowed.
• Another option is deputation to another cadre. Here, an officer may be deputed to his home cadre. But for this, he/she has to have completed 9 years in service. Also, the maximum term for which he/she can stay in the home cadre is 5 years and generally, not for more than 3 years at a stretch.
• The power to approve inter cadre transfers on the grounds of marriage has been delegated to secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Exceptional cases are referred to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
• In case both spouses belong to two different all India services where one is an IAS, the case would be processed in the DoPT. But if one belongs to the IPS and the other is an IFoS, the case would be considered in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the service rules to allow married IAS and IPS officers to be in the same cadre state irrespective of their home state

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