Reporter’s Diary: Political climate and air quality make Delhi unfavourable for TN babus

Civil service officers are now thinking twice before taking up a deputation to New Delhi on Union government services. This was not the scenario a few years ago, said informed government sources.

“The resignations of young IAS officers Sasikanth Senthil and Kannan Gopinathan have not gone down well among south Indian officers. Adding to this, the recent I-T Department notice targeting former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa has also made mid-level officers keep away from Delhi postings,” a source said.

Overall, the deputation of civil service officials to the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS) in 2018-19 was less than 160, which is the lowest in the past five years.

During the previous year, around 200 officers of the IAS-cadre were given posting at the Centre. There used to be a time when more than 400 officers would vie with each other for Delhi postings and the fervour is now lost, sources say. 

To encourage officers to go to Delhi on CSS, official notification is issued twice a year requesting all authorities to nominate eligible officers for deputation.

“The pathetic Delhi weather reduces the productive time. Further, I have an aged father with respiratory complaints. Delhi is no more a favoured destination,” said a civil service official who had been skipping the CSS communique since last year.