Two services named in the Act itself, and the rest by notification: what an all-India Service means

Background

Kerala ordered a large reshuffle of its IAS cadre on 2 November, moving 35 officers and changing charges across departments including Home, Finance, Health, Power and Industries. The service those officers belong to is defined by central law. Section 2 of the All India Services Act, 1951 defines the expression. Only two services are named in that definition: the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. Any further service counts as an all-India Service only where Section 2-A specifies it. Those further services come into being from a date the Central Government appoints by notification in the Official Gazette, and separate dates can be fixed for separate services. So only two services are named in the definition itself, and every later one rests on such a notification. Officers of these services are posted to State cadres, which is why a State government issues the transfer orders even though the service is a central creation.