Civil Services: Role, Accountability and Reforms

1. Political and permanent executive: the bureaucracy's role

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• Two parts of the executive. The political executive is the PM, CMs and ministers, with the President and Governors as mostly formal heads. The permanent executive is made up of civil servants chosen on merit by examination. They stay in office whatever the election result, advise ministers and run day-to-day administration. The Constitution does not define either term. The split comes from parliamentary conventions (Class 7, The State, the Government, and You).
• Who does what. Ministers set policy and keep political control. Officials draft and implement it "faithfully and efficiently" for whichever party wins (Class 11, Executive). The PM's power flows partly from "command over the bureaucratic machine".
• Functions (Class 7):
• implementing laws and schemes;
• linking citizens and government through field offices and grievance handling;

• keeping records.

• Hierarchy: the secretariat, then the directorate, then the district, then the block (Fig. 6.11).

• Weberian bureaucracy is Max Weber's model: hierarchy, written rules, specialisation, impersonality (treating everyone alike), merit appointment and a lifelong career. Critiques: rigidity and red tape. Merton called it "goal displacement", meaning that following the rules becomes the goal itself.
• Development administration (Weidner, Riggs) is administration aimed at planned social and economic change. It is flexible, includes people's participation and is judged by results, not routine.
• District Collector:
• The post was created in 1772 by Warren Hastings for revenue and law and order. It is usually held by an IAS officer.
• From the Community Development Programme (1952) onward, the collector also coordinated development work.

• The collector is also the District Election Officer and chairs the District Disaster Management Authority (DM Act 2005).

• Frontline workers such as teachers and anganwadi and health workers are "street-level bureaucrats" (Lipsky). Collector-led models include the Aspirational Districts Programme (2018, 112 districts) and the Aspirational Blocks Programme (2023, 500 blocks).

• NCERT update (Class 7: MGNREGS; now: replaced by the VB-G RAM G Act 2025 from 1 July 2026).

2. From the ICS to the All India Services: history and the "steel frame"

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• Company era:
• Cornwallis is called the "father of the civil services". The Charter Act 1793 reserved high posts for the covenanted service.
• Training came from Fort William College (1800) and Haileybury (1806).

• The Charter Act 1853 ended patronage (jobs handed out as favours).

• The Macaulay Committee (1854) recommended open competition on merit. The first examination for the Indian Civil Service was held in London in 1855. The ICS was the elite British-era service that ran district and provincial administration.

• Indianisation timeline:
• Satyendranath Tagore became the first Indian selected (1863).
• The maximum age was cut to 19 in 1876, which led to protests by Surendranath Banerjea's Indian Association.
• Statutory Civil Service (1879).
• Aitchison Commission (1886-87): Imperial, Provincial and Subordinate services.
• Islington Commission (1912-15).

• Simultaneous exams in India from 1922.

• The Lee Commission (1923-24) set a target of parity between Indian and British recruits. It led to the first Public Service Commission (1926). The GoI Act 1935 added a Federal PSC.

• Steel frame: Lloyd George's phrase for the ICS in the House of Commons (August 1922). The phrase is now used for the All India Services.
• Independence:
• Critics called the ICS "neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service". Sardar Patel argued for keeping it.
• The Premiers' Conference (October 1946) agreed to create the IAS and IPS.
• In the Constituent Assembly on 10 October 1949, Patel said there would be no united India without "a good all-India service which has the independence to speak out its mind".

• Old ICS officers kept protected terms under Art. 314. The 28th Amendment (1972) replaced it with Art. 312A.

• Civil Services Day (21 April) marks Patel's address to the first probationers at Metcalfe House in 1947. It has been observed since 2006.

• Spoils system: government jobs handed to party supporters after an election win, as in 19th-century USA. The US ended it with the Pendleton Act (1883) and the UK chose merit through Northcote-Trevelyan (1854). Recruitment through India's PSCs is the opposite of spoils.

3. Services and recruitment: Article 309, merit and representation

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Service	Where officers work (Class 11 exercise)
State Civil Services	Only in the state that recruited them (through SPSCs)
Central Civil Services (e.g. Indian Foreign Service, IRS)	Any central office; IFS also in missions abroad
All India Services	Allotted state, with deputation to the Centre

• Central posts are grouped as Group A, B and C. The 6th CPC merged Group D into Group C.
• Art. 309 (recruitment and conditions of service of public servants):
• Legislatures may regulate recruitment and service conditions.
• Until they do, the President or Governor makes rules under the proviso. Most service law (Fundamental Rules, CCS rules) comes from such rules.

• No full Civil Services Act has ever been passed.

• The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) sits in the ministry held by the PM. It handles recruitment policy and training, and is the cadre controlling authority for the IAS.

• UPSC exam reforms:
• The Kothari Committee (1976) led to the preliminary, main and interview format from 1979.
• Later reviews: Satish Chandra (1989) and Alagh (2001).
• CSAT was introduced in 2011 and has been qualifying (33%) since 2015. GS-IV Ethics was added in 2013.

• The Baswan Committee (2016) reviewed age limits, attempts and exam scheme.

• Other recruiting bodies:

• The Staff Selection Commission recruits for Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C posts.
• The National Recruitment Agency was approved in August 2020 to run a Common Eligibility Test. It is not yet running (verify current).

• After the 2024 Puja Khedkar case, the UPSC tightened checks on certificates and identity (verify current).

• Reservation: SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC 27% (from 1993), EWS 10% (2019), PwBD 4%.

• NCERT correction (Class 11: women among reserved groups; now: there is no women's quota in UPSC or central recruitment, though some states have one in state services).

• C.B. Muthamma was the first woman to clear the exam (1948) and the first to join the IFS (1949). She was made to promise to resign on marriage. C.B. Muthamma v. UoI (1979, Krishna Iyer J) struck down the biased rules.

4. The doctrine of pleasure and the Article 311 safeguards

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• Doctrine of pleasure (Art. 310): Union servants hold office "during the pleasure" of the President, and state servants during the Governor's. It comes from the English rule that the Crown could dismiss its servants at will.
• It applies "except as expressly provided". Judges, the CAG, the CEC and UPSC members have fixed protection.
• It is also limited by Art. 311, by Arts. 14 and 16, and by service rules.
• Under Art. 310(2), contract appointees can get compensation.

• The pleasure is used only on ministers' advice (Shamsher Singh, 1974).

• Safeguards for civil servants (Art. 311):

• 311(1): no dismissal or removal by an authority below the one that appointed the officer.
• 311(2): no dismissal, removal or reduction in rank without an inquiry, notice of the charges and a fair chance to be heard.
• The 42nd Amendment (1976) dropped the second chance to answer the proposed penalty.
• Art. 311 covers civil servants and AIS officers. It does not cover defence personnel or PSU staff.

• It covers only punishment. The tests are a right to the post and "evil consequences" (Parshotam Lal Dhingra, 1958).

• Dismissal without inquiry (second proviso to 311(2)) is allowed in three cases: 1. conduct that led to a criminal conviction; 2. an inquiry is "not reasonably practicable", with reasons recorded. Under 311(3) this decision is final; 3. the President or Governor decides an inquiry is not wise for the security of the State.

• Tulsiram Patel case (1985, Constitution Bench) upheld these exceptions and overruled Challappan (1975). Courts can still check bad faith (mala fides) and irrelevant grounds. Since 2021, J&K employees have been dismissed under 311(2)(c) (verify current).

• Process: CCS (CCA) Rules 1965 and AIS (D&A) Rules 1969. Disputes go to the CAT (Art. 323A).
• Debate:
• The 2nd ARC's 4th Report (2007) proposed repealing Arts. 310-311 and passing an Art. 309 law that protects honest action.
• The Hota Committee (2004) wanted quick removal for bribery.
• Critics reply that the right to a hearing survives anyway as natural justice.

5. All India Services and federalism

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• All India Services (Art. 312): services common to the Union and states.
• Parliament can create a new one after the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution by two-thirds of members present and voting saying it is in the national interest.
• There are three today: the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service.
• The IAS and IPS are deemed created by Parliament (Art. 312(2)). The IFoS was created in 1966 under the AIS Act 1951.

• The 42nd Amendment allowed an All India Judicial Service, but it has not been set up (verify current). Proposed engineering, medical and education services were never set up.

• The three services:

• The IAS fills posts such as collector, state secretary and Union Secretary.
• The IPS leads state police and central police organisations.

• The IFoS manages forests and wildlife.

• Dual control:

• The Centre recruits through the UPSC and allots officers to state cadres (zonal policy, 2017).
• The state supervises their daily work.
• NCERT correction (Class 11: "only the central government can take disciplinary action"; now: states can suspend officers and impose minor penalties, but dismissal, removal and compulsory retirement need the Centre).

• The federalism topic lists this as a unitary (Centre-leaning) feature.

• Central deputation: under IAS (Cadre) Rules 1954 r.6(1), the state must agree, but the Centre's view wins if they disagree.

• The 2022 draft amendment would have forced states to release officers within a time limit. West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and others opposed it.

• The 2021 recall of West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay sharpened the fight.

• Central Staffing Scheme: AIS and Group A officers serve at the Centre at Deputy Secretary level and above for fixed terms. Empanelment controls Joint Secretary posts and above.

• Sanctioned IAS strength is about 6,800, with over 1,000 vacancies (verify current).
• Debate: is the AIS Patel's "cement" holding the Union together, or a tool of central control?

6. Neutrality, anonymity and "committed bureaucracy"

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• Political neutrality of civil servants: officials take no political side. They serve each new government's policies faithfully (Class 11, Executive).
• Rule 5 of the AIS and CCS Conduct Rules bars party membership and election work.
• During elections, officers are treated as on deputation to the ECI (Art. 324(6); RPA 1950 s.13CC; RPA 1951 s.28A). The ECI can transfer them during polls.

• Neutrality is not silence. It includes frank advice and a duty to refuse illegal orders.

• Anonymity of civil servants: officials work behind the scenes, and ministers take public credit and blame. Ministers answer to the legislature (Art. 75(3)).

• Classic case: the UK's Crichel Down affair (1954), where a minister resigned over officials' failings.

• Anonymity has weakened: the PAC questions secretaries, CAG reports name lapses, RTI opens file notings, and the media spotlights officers.

• Committed bureaucracy: an idea of the early 1970s that officers should be committed to the ruling party's programme rather than stay neutral.

• The Emergency (1975-77) showed the result: illegal detentions, demolitions and sterilisation targets.
• The Shah Commission (1978) said officers who obey illegal orders must answer for them.

• Commitment to the Constitution is right. Commitment to a party is not.

• Politicisation today:

• transfers used as reward or punishment;
• jobs after retirement, and officers joining parties soon after retiring;
• officers used for publicity drives (2023 "rath prabhari" order, verify);

• the 2024 removal of the RSS bar (Section 11).

• Class 11's dilemma: too little control makes officers insensitive to citizens. Too much makes them "an instrument in the hands of the politician".

7. Ministers and civil servants: transfers, postings and tenure

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• Formal links:
• Executive action is taken in the name of the President or Governor (Arts. 53, 77, 154, 166).
• The Allocation and Transaction of Business Rules 1961 (Art. 77(3)) make the Secretary the head of a department and the minister's chief adviser.
• The Cabinet Secretary (Centre) and Chief Secretary (state) sit at the top.
• The minister decides; the officer may record dissent on file.

• Accountability runs officer → minister → legislature → people.

• Transfers and postings are politicians' main lever over officers. Examples: Ashok Khemka's frequent transfers (Haryana) and Durga Shakti Nagpal's suspension (UP, 2013) after she acted against sand mining. Class 11 notes the view that nothing shields officers from such interference. That view predates the 2013 ruling below.

• T.S.R. Subramanian case (31 October 2013), a PIL by retired officers, directed:
• a fixed minimum tenure for officers;
• Civil Services Boards to recommend transfers and postings, headed by the Cabinet Secretary at the Centre and the Chief Secretary in states;
• written orders, with any oral instruction to be recorded;

• Parliament to consider a Civil Services Act under Art. 309.

• Follow-up: the 2014 cadre-rule amendments set a two-year minimum tenure and created CSBs. Compliance is patchy. States override Boards by citing "administrative exigency" (verify current).

• Class 11 exercises: would agencies free of ministers be more efficient or people-friendly? Would an elected administration be better than an appointed one? Compare US political appointees with the British career service.

8. Police reforms: Prakash Singh and after

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• Why police need separate reform:
• The colonial Police Act 1861 still shapes policing.
• Police is a State subject (List II).
• Political pressure and custodial abuse are common.

• The National Police Commission (1977-81, eight reports) and the Ribeiro, Padmanabhaiah and Malimath committees were largely ignored.

• Prakash Singh case (22 September 2006) gave seven directives: 1. A State Security Commission to set broad policy and shield the police from political pressure. Members: the Home Minister, the Leader of Opposition and independent members. 2. The DGP to be picked from the three senior-most officers empanelled by the UPSC, with a two-year minimum tenure. 3. A two-year tenure for IGs, SPs and SHOs. 4. Investigation separated from law and order, starting in cities of 10 lakh+. 5. A Police Establishment Board of senior officers to decide transfers, postings and promotions up to DSP. 6. A Police Complaints Authority at state and district levels to hear public complaints of serious police misconduct. 7. A National Security Commission for central police forces.

• Model Police Act 2006 (Soli Sorabjee committee) was a draft law to replace the 1861 Act. Many states instead passed their own Acts that weakened the directives (verify count).

• The Justice K.T. Thomas committee (2008-10) found widespread non-compliance.
• A 2018 SC order (3 July) barred "acting" DGPs and requires names to reach the UPSC three months before a vacancy.
• Why states resist: they lose control over transfers. PCAs are often weak or headed by serving officials (verify current).

9. Performance, discipline and accountability of officials

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• Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR):
• It replaced the secret confidential report under the AIS (PAR) Rules 2007, with self-appraisal and number grades.

• Dev Dutt (2008) requires every entry to be shared with the officer, who may object.

• 360-degree appraisal collects feedback from seniors, peers and juniors. It has been used for senior empanelment since the mid-2010s and is criticised as opaque.

• Results Framework Document (2009 to about 2014): yearly ministry targets, monitored under the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System.
• Premature retirement:
• FR 56(j) and, for AIS officers, AIS (DCRB) Rules r.16(3) allow retirement in the public interest at age 50 or 55, or after 30 years' service.
• The officer gets three months' notice or pay.

• It is not punishment (Baikuntha Nath Das, 1992). Use has revived since 2019 (verify current).

• Sanction for prosecution of public servants:

• The government must approve before a court takes up a case against a public servant: BNSS s.218 (formerly CrPC s.197) and PC Act s.19.

• Subramanian Swamy v. Manmohan Singh (2012) set a three-month limit, extendable by one month.

• PC Act s.17A (2018 amendment) requires approval even to start an inquiry into official decisions.

• CPIL v. UoI (13 January 2026) was a split verdict. Nagarathna J struck it down; Viswanathan J upheld it with Lokpal screening.

• The case went to a larger bench (verify current).

• Red tapism means too many rules and too much paperwork, causing delay. Class 11: "people are always afraid of these officers". Fixes include simpler processes, e-office and time-bound services.

10. Generalist vs specialist, lateral entry and New Public Management

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• Generalist vs specialist debate: should departments be headed by generalist administrators (like the IAS) or by domain experts?
• The UK Fulton Committee (1968) attacked the "cult of the amateur".
• In India, the IAS dominates Secretary posts, which other services resent. They raised it before the 7th CPC (2015).

• The 1st ARC (1969) proposed functional fields for officers.

• Hota Committee (2004) (P.C. Hota) recommended:

• domain assignment;
• lateral entry;
• objective appraisal;
• a code of ethics.

The 2nd ARC 10th Report added mid-career reviews and open competition for senior posts.

• Lateral entry: specialists from the private sector or academia hired on contract for mid and senior posts.
• Early ad hoc cases: Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Nandan Nilekani (UIDAI, 2009).
• The structured scheme began in 2018 with 10 Joint Secretary posts on 3-5 year contracts, filled through the UPSC. About 63 appointments were made by mid-2024 (verify).
• UPSC Advt. 54/2024 (45 posts) was cancelled on 20 August 2024 because single-post hiring carried no reservation (verify current status).

• For: expertise and fresh ideas. Against: short tenure, conflicts of interest, morale and reservation.

• New Public Management (NPM) (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992) brings market ideas into government: targets, contracting out, competition and citizens treated as customers.

• Indian examples: RFDs, PPPs and service guarantees.
• Critique: a citizen is not a customer, and fairness can suffer.

11. Ethics, codes of conduct and public-service values

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• A code of conduct lists specific dos and don'ts that can be enforced. A code of ethics states values such as integrity, fairness and service. The 2nd ARC wanted a code of ethics made law.
• All India Services (Conduct) Rules 1968 cover IAS, IPS and IFoS officers.
• They require integrity, political neutrality, accountability and devotion to duty.
• They restrict gifts, political activity, private business and criticism of government. Officers must file property returns.

• Listed values such as transparency and courtesy were added later (verify year).

• Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules 1964 cover central employees: r.3 integrity, r.5 politics, plus rules on gifts and property.

• A DoPT order of July 2024 removed the RSS from organisations central employees may not join, reversing orders of 1966-80.

• 2nd ARC 4th Report (Ethics in Governance, 2007) and 10th Report proposed statutory public-service values. The draft Public Service Bill (2006-07) was never passed.

• Nolan principles (UK Nolan Committee, 1995) are seven: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, leadership.
• Gaps:
• asset declarations (Lokpal Act s.44);
• conflicts of interest and jobs after retirement;
• gifts and hospitality;
• officers' social-media conduct;

• protection for whistle-blowers inside the service.

• Rules punish wrongdoing; values build character. Integrity based only on compliance with rules is weaker than integrity based on values.

12. Reforms and capacity building: from the ARCs to Mission Karmayogi

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• First Administrative Reforms Commission (1966-70): chaired by Morarji Desai, then K. Hanumanthaiya. It gave 20 reports, including:
• the Lokpal and Lokayuktas proposal (1966);
• personnel reforms, which led to a Department of Personnel (1970), the forerunner of DoPT;

• Centre-state relations.

• Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005-09): chaired by M. Veerappa Moily, then V. Ramachandran. It gave 15 reports. The key ones for civil services:

• 1st: RTI;
• 4th: Ethics in Governance;
• 10th: Refurbishing of Personnel Administration;
• 11th: e-Governance;
• 12th: Citizen Centric Administration;
• 13th: Organisational Structure of GoI;

• 15th: State and District Administration.

• Main 2nd ARC ideas: a Civil Services Law, mid-career reviews, domain skills, performance agreements, lateral entry and repeal of Arts. 310-311. These have been only partly carried out.

• Mission Karmayogi (NPCSCB, approved 2 September 2020) moves training from "rule-based to role-based" through FRAC (Framework of Roles, Activities and Competencies). It covers about 46 lakh central employees with ₹510.86 crore for 2020-25 (verify).
• Mission Karmayogi bodies:
• Capacity Building Commission (2021): sets training standards, vets ministries' annual capacity-building plans and supervises central training institutes.
• iGOT Karmayogi: an online learning platform run by Karmayogi Bharat, a not-for-profit special purpose vehicle (a company set up for one job).

• The PM's Public HR Council at the top.

• Related: the Aarambh common foundation course (2019) and National Learning Week (October 2024).

• Assessment: training changes little unless tenure, transfers and appraisal also change. The 8th Pay Commission was set up in 2025 (verify current).

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Exam angles

Prelims — high-yield facts and traps

• Articles:
• Art. 308: interpretation.
• Art. 309: recruitment and service rules (made under the proviso until a law is passed).
• Art. 310: pleasure. Art. 311: safeguards, three exceptions, and 311(3) finality.
• Art. 312: AIS; Rajya Sabha resolution by two-thirds present and voting; AIJS added by the 42nd Amendment.
• Art. 312A: 28th Amendment, 1972.

• Arts. 315-320: PSCs. Art. 323A: CAT. Art. 324(6): poll staff.

• Only three AIS: IAS, IPS and IFoS (1966). Trap: the IFS (Foreign Service) is a Central Service, not an AIS.

• Art. 311 traps:
• It does not cover defence personnel.
• The 42nd Amendment (1976) removed the second show-cause.
• Tulsiram Patel (1985) upheld dismissal without inquiry.

• FR 56(j) retirement is not punishment (Baikuntha Nath Das, 1992).

• Committee chronology:

• Macaulay 1854;
• Aitchison 1886-87;
• Islington 1912-15;
• Lee 1923-24 (PSC 1926);
• Kothari 1976 (three-stage exam from 1979);
• Satish Chandra 1989;
• Alagh 2001;
• Hota 2004;

• Baswan 2016.

• Dates: "steel frame" by Lloyd George, 1922. Civil Services Day is 21 April (Patel, 1947).

• Case–principle pairs:
• Prakash Singh (2006): seven police directives (SSC, PEB, PCA).
• T.S.R. Subramanian (2013): CSBs, minimum tenure, written instructions.
• Dev Dutt (2008): APAR entries must be shared.
• Shamsher Singh (1974): pleasure used on ministers' advice.

• C.B. Muthamma (1979): gender bias in the IFS struck down.

• ARC chairs: 1st ARC: Morarji Desai, then Hanumanthaiya (20 reports). 2nd ARC: Moily, then Ramachandran (15 reports).

• Bodies: Mission Karmayogi (2020); CBC (2021); iGOT run by Karmayogi Bharat; NRA (2020) for the CET; SSC; DoPT under the PM.
• Prosecution: s.17A needs approval to start an inquiry; s.19 PC Act and BNSS s.218 need sanction to prosecute.
• Statement traps:
• "Only the Centre can discipline AIS officers": FALSE. States can suspend officers and give minor penalties.
• "UPSC has a women's quota": FALSE.
• "There are five Nolan principles": FALSE. There are seven.
• Lateral entry ran through the UPSC from 2019.

Mains — GS-II themes

1. Role of civil services in a democracy: neutrality vs responsiveness; lessons from committed bureaucracy and the Emergency; politicisation through transfers and post-retirement rewards.
2. Art. 311 and sanction rules: protection for honest officers or shield for the corrupt? Discuss the 2nd ARC repeal proposal, s.17A and the 2026 split verdict, and FR 56(j).
3. AIS and cooperative federalism: dual control, the 2022 deputation proposal, the Alapan Bandyopadhyay episode, and Patel's case for the service.
4. Generalist vs specialist and lateral entry: expertise vs reservation, conflict of interest and morale. Mission Karmayogi's competency approach as an answer.
5. Why T.S.R. Subramanian and Prakash Singh are poorly implemented, and what a Civil Services Act under Art. 309 could fix.
6. Performance management (APAR, 360-degree appraisal, RFDs): can NPM-style targets fit a rule-of-law bureaucracy?
7. GS-IV link: code of conduct vs code of ethics, Nolan principles, conflict of interest, and the duty to refuse illegal orders.
8. Development administration and service delivery: the collector's changing role, aspirational districts and frontline workers.

Current-affairs hooks

• Lateral-entry policy after the 2024 cancellation; UPSC verification reforms after the 2024 controversies (verify current).
• Centre-state fights over deputation, cadre rule r.6 and chief secretaries.
• The larger bench on PC Act s.17A; sanction delays; FR 56(j) retirements.
• DGP appointments and Prakash Singh compliance hearings.
• Mission Karmayogi milestones; Civil Services Day awards (21 April); the 8th Pay Commission (verify current).
• Conduct-rule changes (the 2024 RSS order); ECI transfers of officers during elections.