All India Services: Article 312, IAS, IPS and the Rajya Sabha's Role

All India Services are civil services common to both the Union and the states, whose members are recruited and their service conditions regulated by Parliament, but who serve at various points in their careers with either the Central government or a state government. Article 312, placed in Part XIV (Services under the Union and the States), is the constitutional basis for creating such services and for treating two of independent India's oldest civil services as having been created under it from the very start.

What Article 312 Provides

Article 312(1) begins with a "notwithstanding" clause overriding the normal distribution of legislative and executive competence between the Union and the states (Chapter VI of Part VI, dealing with state services, and Part XI, dealing with Centre-state relations). It then lays down a specific procedure: if the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) passes a resolution — supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting — declaring that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest to do so, Parliament may by law create one or more All India Services, including an all-India judicial service, common to the Union and the states. Once such a resolution and law are in place, Parliament also regulates the recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to that service, subject to the other provisions of the Chapter.

The IAS and IPS Are Deemed Created

Article 312(2) settles the status of the two services that already existed when the Constitution commenced: the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service are deemed to be services created by Parliament under this article. This means the IAS and the IPS did not need to go through the two-thirds Rajya Sabha resolution procedure afresh after 1950 — the Constitution itself treats them as validly constituted All India Services from the outset, even though their institutional lineage predates the Constitution.

The All-India Judicial Service

Clause (1), as it now stands, also expressly contemplates an all-India judicial service among the services Parliament may create. Bringing such a service into existence would still require the same constitutional route — a two-thirds Rajya Sabha resolution followed by a parliamentary law. A further clause, added later, addresses this proposed service specifically and excludes posts below the level of district judge from its scope, so that any all-India judicial service created under this article would not extend down to the more junior tiers of the subordinate judiciary.

How All India Services Function

Members of an All India Service are appointed by the Union but are transferable between the Central government's own departments and the various state governments, serving both levels of government over the course of a career. In practice, such officers administer laws — both Union and state — that apply in whichever jurisdiction they happen to be posted, which is precisely what makes these services "common" in the constitutional sense: the same cadre of officers staffs the senior administrative and policing positions across the country, rather than the Union and each state maintaining entirely separate, non-interchangeable services for these functions.

Why the Rajya Sabha's Role Matters

The requirement of a Rajya Sabha resolution under Article 312 is one of a small set of powers that the Constitution gives exclusively to the Rajya Sabha, not shared with or exercisable by the Lok Sabha. Besides authorising the creation of new All India Services, the Rajya Sabha alone can pass a resolution authorising Parliament to legislate on a State List subject in the national interest (Article 249), can alone initiate the removal of the Vice-President, and can keep certain emergency proclamations alive on its own approval if the Lok Sabha stands dissolved when approval is due. Article 312 is thus one instance of a broader pattern: because the Rajya Sabha represents the states, giving it — and specifically a two-thirds threshold within it — the gatekeeping role for new All India Services is meant to ensure that the states, as a body, endorse any expansion of a cadre that will operate across state boundaries and under a degree of central control.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims: The two-thirds Rajya Sabha resolution threshold under Article 312(1); which services are deemed created under Article 312(2) (IAS and IPS); the Rajya Sabha's other exclusive powers (Article 249, Vice-President removal, emergency proclamations during Lok Sabha dissolution).

Mains: Discuss the constitutional rationale for placing All India Services under joint Union-state control; evaluate the significance of requiring Rajya Sabha's two-thirds approval for creating new All India Services as a federal safeguard; examine the case for and against an all-India judicial service.

FAQ

Q1. What are All India Services? Civil services common to the Union and the states, whose members are recruited and whose service conditions are regulated by Parliament under Article 312, but who serve both levels of government.

Q2. Which services are deemed created under Article 312? The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), as they existed at the Constitution's commencement.

Q3. What is required to create a new All India Service? A Rajya Sabha resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of members present and voting, declaring it necessary or expedient in the national interest, followed by a law made by Parliament.

Q4. Does Article 312 cover a judicial service? Yes — clause (1) contemplates an all-India judicial service among the services Parliament may create by the same procedure, though a further clause excludes posts below district judge level from it.

Q5. Why is the Rajya Sabha given this special power? Because it represents the states, and Article 312 is one of a small set of powers reserved exclusively to the Rajya Sabha, ensuring state-side endorsement before a new all-India cadre is created.

Quick Revision

• Article 312: Rajya Sabha resolution (2/3 present & voting) + parliamentary law → new All India Service.
• IAS and IPS deemed created under Article 312(2) from the Constitution's commencement.
• All-India judicial service also contemplated, subject to same procedure; posts below district judge level excluded.
• All India Service members: Union-appointed, transferable between Centre and states.
• Creating new All India Services is one of the Rajya Sabha's exclusive special powers.

Sources

• The Constitution of India, Article 312, legislative.gov.in

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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