New Delhi: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has been mulling on the possible ways to increase the annual intake of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in view of a huge shortage of 1,500 officers in the country.
According to reports, the gap between the sanctioned strength and the in-position strength of IAS officers is as large as 104 in Uttar Pradesh cadre, 94 in Bihar cadre, and 87 in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre.
Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, headed by BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi, had also flagged the issue of shortage of the IAS officers in the country.
Sources in DoPT said that the government is aware of the shortage of the IAS officers and has been working on to decrease the existing gap. They also said that the government is working on the possible ways to increase the number of annual intake of IAS officers through the Union Public Service Commission in a phased manner.
The Parliamentary panel, in its 112th report, observed that the bureaucracy deficit is, perhaps, compelling the states to take recourse to such means as appointing non-cadre officers to cadre posts, and continuing them in such posts beyond the permissible time limit besides giving multiple charges to the serving officers.
It also observed that such measures would compromise the efficiency of administration, therefore, it was recommended that the DoPT needs to increase the annual intake of IAS officers significantly keeping in view the evolving needs of Indian administration.
The panel also noted that 12 Central Group A services are awaiting cabinet approval and the cadre review proposals of nine services were pending with the Cadre review Committee and hoped that this would be completed at the earliest.
It has also recommended DoPT to take steps to expedite cadre review of the rest of the 17 services and ensure that the process should be completed at the earliest and furnish a status note in this regard to the Committee. The Committee also recommended the Centre to undertake cadre review of posts designated as ‘Cadre posts’ exclusively earmarked for IAS officers in states.
(IANS)
