IAS and IPS officers may be allowed to stay on foreign postings for seven years at a stretch from the existing five years with due permission from the ministers concerned. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has relaxed the rules to allow any ministry to further extend the tenure of an officer beyond seven years provided "recruitment rules for such deputation post" are amended accordingly. The move comes after various ministries approached the DoPT for relaxation of the five-year deputation tenure condition citing exigencies, officials said.