Law and You > Administrative Law > Classification of Indian Civil Services
In personnel administration classification means a grouping of various positions on the basis of their duties and responsibilities. Positions having similar duties and responsibilities are put together in one class. A class has been defined by Stahl as “a group of positions sufficiently alike in their duties and responsibilities to justify common treatment in various employment processes”. Classification brings some orderliness into the system and makes for uniform treatment of all the people who are grouped together on certain criteria. It also makes possible justification of differential privileges given to certain distinct categories. The duties, responsibilities, qualification requirements, eligibility conditions, salary, status, even authority to be vested, all depend, to a great extent, on the proper system of classification. It facilitates the identification of various hierarchic layers and functional segments of the services at any given time. Classification is an organizational tool of great importance, which, if administered properly, can bring satisfaction to the functionaries. In this article, we shall study the classification of civil servants under Indian Civil Services.
The Civil Servants are the backbone of the entire administration of India. The elected ministers of the country lay down only the policy and strategy to run the administrative mechanism. This strategy and policy are brought into practice by the civil servants. These civil servants are recruited through one of the toughest exams of the country, the Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC. The civil servants are classified as per their departments and type of work they carry out.
Part XIV of the Indian Constitution provides for different types or classes of services for India. Civil Services, after Independence, have been categorized into three types-All India Services (common to both Centre & States), Central Services (for purely Central subjects) and State Services (for the administration of subjects under State jurisdiction). The All-India Services, like the Central Services, are recruited and trained by the Central Government, but, for work, they are assigned to different States. They serve state governments and their service conditions are also governed by states, except that the disciplinary action against them can only be taken by the President of India in consultation with the UPSC. Frequently, they also serve the central government on deputation, and after a fixed tenure they are expected to return to their respective states.
Indian Administrative Services:
The rules and regulations governing the new services are framed in consultation with state governments and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), in accordance with the All-India Services Act, 1951. Article 312 of the Constitution of India has constitutionalized the ‘formation of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS). From the standpoint of prestige and status, IAS and IPS are at the top position. These two services are also called premier services in India. In fact, the holders of these two most important posts manage and control the general and police administration. Later, Indian Forest Service was also included as the third All India Service.
Central Services:
The Civil Services of the Union are classified into four categories as follows:
- Central Services Class I (Group A): In Group A of central services there are 34 types. Some of them are Indian Foreign Service, Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Indian Statistical Service, Indian Economic Service, Indian Information Service, Indian Railway Service, Central Health Service, Secretariat Service, etc.
- Central Services Class II (group B): This includes services like Central Secretariat Service, Geographical Survey of India, Zoological Survey of India, Central Secretariat Stenographers Service Grade I, Telegraph Engineering Service, Telegraph Traffic Service, etc.
- Central Services Class III (Group C): This comprises services like Central Secretariat Clerical Service, Post & Telegraph Accounts Service, etc. The members of the Group C staff are recruited by the Staff Selection Committee through an open competitive examination. The Staff selection committee sends the list of successful candidates to the various departments of central government and they recruit from the list of successful candidates.
- Central Services Class IV (Group D): This category consists of peons, sweepers, gardeners, etc. Top central government officers appoint peons, sweepers, and gardeners for their use.
General Central Service:
Central civil posts of any class not included in any other Central Civil Service are deemed to be included in the General Central Service of the corresponding class and a government servant appointed to any such post is deemed to be a member of that service unless he/she is already a member of any other central civil service of the same class.
State Civil Services:
These are services exclusively under the jurisdiction of the State Government and primarily administer the state subjects. For the recruitment for the posts of state services, there are laws enacted by the state legislature. The persons for the state services are recruited through a competitive examination and the process is very much similar to the competitive examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. At present many top positions of state administration are held by IAS, IPS, etc. There is a large number of services that fall under the category of state services. Such as education, police, tourism, judicial service, medical service, co-operative service, irrigation, fisheries, etc.
Local Services:
Local services include municipal services and Panchayati raj. Today the local self-government enjoys greater importance. When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister he introduced two constitutional amendments to give greater importance to the system of local self- government. The purpose of the amendment was to decentralize the administration and spread it to the grassroots level of Indian polity. These are the broad categories of the types of services in India.