India, Aug. 23 -- Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's move to reduce the strength of Indian Administrative Services officers in Himachal Pradesh has stirred a row that goes far beyond numbers on a government chart.

Bureaucracy in India has long been a breed apart-an establishment that often considers itself more permanent and powerful than the political class that formally commands it. In Himachal's secretariat, there is now an unusual silence. Bureaucrats who have held sway under successive governments are facing a CM willing to question their numbers, cost and institutional weight. Sukhu has disturbed an arrangement that has survived political changes.

Sukhu's proposal is being presented as financial prudence and administrative ra...