According to the latest media reports, the Centre has immediately stopped giving special allowances to many government employees.
The IAS, IPS, and IFoS officials who work in the northeastern region will not get incentives and special allowances anymore.
According to the order, a special allowance that was given to officers from all India services' north-east cadres when they were serving in the area at a rate of 25% of their basic salary had also been withdrawn. According to the official directive, this allowance was in addition to all other allowances.
An order for this specific grant, entitled "Special Allowance for Officers Belonging to North-East Cadres of All India Services," was issued by the government on February 10, 2009.
Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Forest Service are the three all-India services (AIS) (IFoS). The cadre in which these services' officers work is a state or set of states or Union Territories.
Following a review of the four orders it had issued to that effect between 2007 and 2017, the government decided to immediately revoke the incentives and special allowances that had been given to the AIS officers stationed in the north-eastern region, according to a brief order from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) dated September 23, 2022.
An improvement in the law-and-order situation in the northeastern states, which have been regarded as challenging posts, was one of the likely explanations for the government's decision to withdraw the rewards, according to official sources.
They claimed that this new action will result in some financial savings for the government exchequer as well. Along with the instruction from February 10, 2009, the orders from January 22, 2007, February 16, 2009, and September 5, 2017, are also revoked. There are provisions about post-retirement housing in the order that was issued in January 2007.
In addition to the income tax exemption already available to them while posted in the northeast, the February 16, 2009 order stated that tribal all Indian service officers of the region would be entitled to reimbursement of the equivalent amount of income tax paid by them while on central deputation. On the other hand, the order dated September 5 loosens limits on AIS officers' deputation between cadres — from other cadres to northeast cadres, and vice versa.
