Posts and Designations held by an IAS officer

IAS is a dream job of all the Civil Service aspirants. Read here to know the posts and designations held by an IAS officer.

IAS officers head almost all the departments at the district level as well as the Ministry level in the Government of India. IAS officers become the Secretary to the Government of India and not to a particular ministry. IAS posts include the Director of some specialised agency, Chief Secretary to the State government, Secretary in the State departments, Governor of RBI, Election Commissioner and the like. The IAS officers are the top managers working anywhere for the effectiveness of the government policies and decisions. All the candidates want to know about the job profile of India’s most prestigious post – IAS. The job profile for the IAS office is published by the Ministry of Personnel. As per the official document, the service profile of the IAS officer is given below.

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was constituted in 1946. Prior to it, Indian Imperial Services (1893 - 1946) was there, which was recruited through the Federal Public Service Commission. IAS was constituted as the All India Service recruited through a common recruitment exam - Civil Services Exam. The service conditions pay and other allowances are uniform across the nation for these All-India Services. The interesting fact is that the Union government fix the pay of the IAS officers and the states needed to pay them through their funds.

See Here: IAS Salary

IAS Recruitment

There are three ways of recruitment to the IAS.

• Through the Civil Services Exam Conducted by UPSC
• Through the promotion of State Civil Service Officers to IAS
• Through the selection of Non-State Civil Service Officers

In the total quota of vacancies each year, 66% of vacancies are filled through direct recruitment (Civil Services Exam) and the rest 33% of the vacancies are filled through the promotion of the State PCS officers. The officers were selected through both the methods required to undergo training.

IAS Training

The officers selected through the Civil Services Exam were sent to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) for the IAS training module. The duration of IAS training is approximately two years. Recently, the government has also added a three months module of the attachment with the Union ministry before going to the allocated state cadres.
The officers promoted from the State Civil Services need to undergo short term training in the LBSNAA and then only they can take charge as an IAS officer. The irony is that these promoted officers are informally called promotee officers.

Also Read: IPS Salary

Allocation of Cadre

The UPSC recommends the candidates to the Ministry of Personal after the final UPSC result. With this recommendation, the role of UPSC ends in that year's recruitment process. The department of personnel takes over from this point onwards. The candidates selected are allocated with the services and the state cadres (All-India Services). The cadre and service allocation is done after considering the place in the merit list and the preference of the services given by the candidates while filling the IAS application form.

Also Read: UPSC Toppers 2021

Designations held by an IAS officer

The designation held by the IAS officers differs from state to state. This is because the nomenclature of the state administrative machinery differs from state to state. But the major functions of the IAS officers across the nation remain more or less the same. Following are the designations/posts held by the IAS officers in their illustrated careers.

Designations held by IAS officers during field posting

• Sub-Divisional Officer(SDO)/ Sub-Divisional Magistrate(SDM)/ Joint Collector/ Chief Development Officer(CDO)
• District Magistrate(DM)/District Collector/Deputy Commissioner
• Divisional Commissioner
• Member Board of Revenue
• Chairman Board of Revenue

Appointment of IAS Officers to other Organisations/Bodies

An IAS officer can be appointed to the national and international institutions, bodies and organisations. The national institutions include Public Sector Units (PSUs), Banks and other national organisations such as NITI AAYOG. The IAS officer can be appointed in international organisations such as United Nations, World Bank, Asian Development Bank in various capacities.

In addition to the above, an IAS officer can be sent on deputation to a private organisation for a fixed tenure.

Read More: IAS Preparation Plan

IAS Syllabus 2021

IAS exam pattern

Important topics for IAS Exam

IAS 2019 Cadre Allocation List

IAS Posts FAQs

Q: What is the highest post in IAS?

Q: What is the lowest post in IAS?

Q: Is IAS and collector same?