Expressing reservations over the proposed amendment of IAS cadre Rules 1954, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said the amendment is against the federal structure and will dampen the harmonious relationship between the Centre and the state. She also requested withdrawal of the amendment.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her ‘strong reservations’ against the amendment to the IAS (Cadre) Rules,1954 and claimed that it will hamper “co-operative federalism”.

“Not only is the proposed amendment against the spirit of co-operative federalism but the same also upsets the time-tested harmonious arrangement which has existed between the Centre and States in the matter of posting of IAS and IPS officers,” she wrote in her letter.

The West Bengal Chief Minister also wrote in her letter that state administration will be under pressure and it would become “impossible to assess and plan the administration of a state by engaging such officers who form part of the Central Deputation Reserve, fraught with the uncertainty of their sudden deputation by the Centre.”

“Such amendments seem to make a permanent dent in the spirit of cooperative federalism and the consultative approach.” Mamata Banerjee said in the letter.

Seeking PM’s intervention into the matters, Banerjee also requested the Prime Minister to keep “the federal spirit of the Cadre Rules unviolated by withdrawing/ not giving effect to the proposed amendment”.