The Nagaland government has staged a coup of sorts against the central government. And if this is allowed to go any further, the central government may soon lose its authority over officers of All India service (AIS). Last week, the Govt of India was constrained to re-allocate a Nagaland cadre IFS officer, Palve Vijay Trimbak (IFS:2015), to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Neither was it the choice of the officer nor that of the Centre. Simply speaking, the Nagaland Govt did not leave the central government with an option. The orders issued by the Govt of India reads, "Central Government re-allocates the cadre in respect of Shri PALVE VIJAY TRIMBAK...from Nagaland Cadre to Assam-Meghalaya Cadre on account of non-acceptance by Government of Nagaland". In June this year, the Govt of Nagaland had declined to accept Indian Forest Service probationer P V Triambak who was allotted the Nagaland cadre. Yet the officer joined and served in the state for over three months and was also paid his salary. But three months after his joining, for the reasons best known to the state government, the state Environment & Forest Secretary wrote to the Director of the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy that 'the state govt is not in a position to accommodate any new direct-recruit IFS officers for the time being due to some technical problems in cadre management in the state'. Despite efforts by the central government, the Govt of Nagaland didn't budge. This constrained the Govt of India to allocate a fresh cadre to the officer concerned. Whatever be the justifications, the state government's act does not augur well for the federal polity. It may be added that similar situations are being faced by IAS and IPS officers in several states; in fact, they are rarely given field postings (Dy Collector & SP) encadred for AIS officers (IAS & IPS). Even as it is agreed that a strong AIS cadre is vital for a cooperative and cohesive federal structure of the country, certain states have been acting unilaterally, underscoring the necessity for the central government to put its foot down heavily on the behavior of erring states.  Further, it may be mentioned that from SP to the DGP level, there are over three dozen posts for the IPS officers in Nagaland. At the SP level alone, 19 posts are reserved for the IPS, but, currently, hardly five are with the IPS including state promotee officers. The remaining are with the Nagaland cadre service police officers.