On a perusal of Annual Report 2016-17 of the Ministry, the Committee observes that shortage of IAS officers in this country has been a perennial problem since 1951. But now the vacancy position has increased to an alarming level. With the present rate of recruitment it will require decades to fill the existing vacancies.“
Vacancies in Civil Services has reached ‘alarming levels’. Parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice has recently stated that vacancies in higher level of Civil Services has reached ‘alarming levels’.
What does the Report Say?
The report was presented in the parliament recently.
- The shortage of IAS officers has been a problem since 1951. But now, “the vacancy position has increased to an alarming level” with only 4,926 incumbent officers against a sanctioned strength of 6,396 (77%) as per the civil list dated January 1, 2016. The report Said.
- There is a shortage of around 1,470 IAS officers as on January 1, 2016.
Note: Shortage of officers in key positions in government would affect governance.
Recommendation of the Parliamentary Panel
The panel has recommended that efforts need to be made to fill up remaining vacancies, either by:
- Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) to train more IAS officers by utilizing the extra capacity at the Academy.
- Increase the training capacity in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).
The panel was informed of 1,470 officer vacancies in the IAS (about 900 vacancies) from the direct recruitment quota, and rest from states’ promotion quota.
Reasons for Shortage in Vacancies
The DoPT secretary has told the panel that direct recruitment shortfall was primarily due to following reasons-
- Cadre review.
- For a long time, recruitment has been very low. Direct recruitment could not be increased suddenly as the training capacity for IAS officers was only 180 per year.
- Problem of cadre management.
Observation by the Parliamentary Committee
The Committee failed to understand why lack of training capacity is mentioned as one of the reasons for not filling vacancies of IAS officers.
“On a perusal of Annual Report 2016-17 of the Ministry, the Committee observes that shortage of IAS officers in this country has been a perennial problem since 1951. But now the vacancy position has increased to an alarming level. With the present rate of recruitment it will require decades to fill the existing vacancies,” the committee said
