West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the second time in a week expressing her 'strong' reservations to the Centre's proposal to amend the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954. The proposal, once approved, will give the Union government overriding powers to transfer IAS and IPS officers through Central deputation, doing away with the requirement of taking the approval of the state governments.

"I find the revised amendment proposal more draconian than the former, and indeed its very grain is against the foundations of our great federal polity and the basic structure of India's Constitutional scheme.”

“The moot point of the further revised draft amendment proposal is that an officer, whom the Central government may choose to take out of a state to any part of the country without taking his/her consent and without the agreement of the state government under whom he or she is serving, may now stand released from his/her current assignment forthwith,” wrote CM Mamata Banerjee in her letter to the Prime Minister.

On January 12, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) wrote to the states, announcing that the Union government intends to change Rule 6 of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules 1954 (deputation of cadre officials).