All India Services After Independence

In order to make All India Services more lasting and less vulnerable, a Constitutional base has been given to them. The Constitution framers decided as follows: “Without depriving the States of their right to form their own Civil Services, there shall be All India Services recruited on an all India basis with common qualifications, with uniform scale of pay and members of which alone could be appointed to these Strategic Posts throughout the Union.”

Article 312(2) of the Constitution States: “The Services known at the commencement of this Constitution, as the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service shall be deemed to be services created by Parliament under this Article.”

There is also a provision in the Constitution for creation of one or more All India Services. Article 312(2) says: “If The Council of States declares by Resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest to do so.”

In accordance with the above provision, and seeing the need for more All India Services, the Rajya Sabha, on December 6, 1961, adopted a resolution for creating the following three All India Services on technical side: Indian Services of Engineers Indian Medical and Health Services, and Indian Forest Service. Out of these three, only one service—Indian Forest Service—came into existence from July 1, 1966. Others could not because the State Governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Himachal Pradesh revised their stand mainly on the ground of State autonomy.