Even as the NaMo Administration is planning to allow specialists from private sector for a lateral entry into the higher ranks of bureaucracy, central services officials of non-IAS cadres have kicked off storm over alleged biasness shown towards IAS officers for empanelment and selection of the secretary, additional secretary and joint secretary for the central and state ministries and departments. In an eight-page letter to the PM, Indian Revenue Services officers have maintained that non-IAS central services too have meritorious and highly competent officers, yet there is no one from the IRS at the secretary or the additional secretary level. "Currently, no officer from the IRS is at the secretary-level and even at the additional secretary-level. The systematic discrimination has led to a negligible number of officers from our services having an opportunity to work at that level," reads the letter sent to Prime Minister Modi on June 22. Of the total 81 secretary-level officers in the ministries and departments of the central government, 57 belong to the IAS, and only 24 are from other services. Proponents of lateral entries say that the initiative will help the government in getting talented candidates with sufficient domain knowledge. IRS officers, however, argue that they are not only domain experts but also, they are quite experienced in revenue matters and others. The letter alleges that the Central Staffing Scheme (CSS), which is responsible for allocating central government posts to eligible officers from various services, tweaked the rules for appointment to the posts of secretary and additional secretary. It further alleges that officers from all 37 services were eligible for the secretary and additional secretary posts but in 2001, the eligibility criterion was tweaked by bringing a differential of two years between IAS officers and those from other central services. "While IAS officers require 32 years of experience in service to be eligible for secretary-level positions in the central government, their counterparts require over 34-35 years of experience, before which most officers retire," reads the letter.