Patna, June 4: Bihar is grappling with a crippling shortage of IAS and IPS officers that threatens to slow down Nitish Kumar’s promise of susashan (good governance).
The state has only 155 IPS officers against the sanctioned strength of 231. The shortfall within the IAS is also acute — it has less than 200 officers against the authorised strength of 326. The shortfall has been persisting despite the repeated demand of the government to fill up the vacancies. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has raised the issue with the Centre on several occasions in the past.
Sources said that before 2005, when the Nitish-led NDA government came to power, IAS and IPS direct recruits were least interested in coming to Bihar due to political interference in day-to-day functioning of the administration and adverse work culture.
“During the RJD regime, hardly two or three direct recruits opted for the Bihar cadre. The situation had come to such a pass that even IPS officers allotted the Bihar cadre were not inclined to join here. The situation can be gauged from the fact that even some efficient IPS officers decided to quit the service and take up other assignments,” a senior police officer said.
Take the case of Rituraj (1983 batch). He opted for voluntary retirement while another IPS officer, Ajit Joy (1992 batch), started practising law in the Supreme Court. Similarly, Ajay Kumar (1986 batch) is posted with the Max Hospital in Delhi as vice-president.
Moreover, there are officers who are on central deputation for long. For example, A.S. Rajan (1987 batch) and Jag Mohan (1995 batch) are posted with the Intelligence Bureau. R.R. Verma (1978 batch) is posted as director, Northeast Police Academy.
Animal husbandry and fisheries resources minister Giriraj Singh blamed the previous government for the shortfall. “The situation had deteriorated to such an extent that direct recruits were not interested in coming to Bihar even after allotment of cadre,” he said. The previous government, he said, never pressured the Centre for allotting more direct recruits to bridge the gap.
“But the situation has changed during the present dispensation. More IPS and IAS officers are joining the state,” the minister said.
As many as 43 IAS officers are away on central deputation. A.N.P. Sinha (1974 batch), posted as secretary, panchayati raj, is on deputation since January 18, 2001, while A.K. Upadhaya (1975 batch) is on deputation since January 21, 2004. Upadhyaya is posted as secretary in the youth affairs department. Similarly S.K. Sharma (1976 batch) is on deputation since November 25, 2003. Sharma is posted as secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry. A.P. Seth (1975 batch) is on deputation since November 1, 2001. Seth is the chief adviser, Planning Commission, while K.C. Mitra (1977 batch) is on deputation since November 29, 2005. He is posted as joint secretary in the petro-chemicals department.
Raj Kumar Singh (1975 batch) proceeded on central deputation on July 31, 2009. He is posted as secretary, defence production department. Singh has been credited with improving the condition of roads in Bihar when he was posted with the road construction department here.
Official sources said the RJD regime had used the Bihar Administrative Service route to fill key posts with loyalists. The sources said that in the past, IAS officers who dissented against the way “the government was run” were “sidelined”, prompting many from the all-India service’s Bihar cadre to opt for central assignments.
“It is difficult to mould the direct IAS/IPS officers. But the promotees can be,” admitted a leader from the ruling party who spoke under cover of anonymity.
The favoured Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) officers were mostly made special secretaries — since only IAS officers could be full-fledged secretaries — or were promoted to the IAS cadre or appointed officers on special duty (OSDs) and virtually ran the departments.
The IPS too was similarly affected.
As of now, a total of 27 IPS officers are currently on central deputation. There is a shortfall of 44 direct recruits while 32 posts are to be filled up with the promotion of the state service police officers.
The existing strength includes 119 direct recruits and 36 promoted IPS officers. Till 2009, there were 19 vacancies in the promotee category in the state. The number, however, went up to 32 by the end of 2010. The director-general of police and the home secretary had underlined the need to fill these vacancies at a meeting of the selection committee in New Delhi on December 28 last year.
“We had sought the allotment of at least 14 IPS direct recruits from the 2010 batch. But we have been allotted only seven officers,' said director-general of police Neel Mani. He said only six direct recruits were allotted the Bihar cadre in 2009. The state now gets an average of six IPS officers from every batch.
“The number is likely to increase as the annual batch size of regular recruits has been increased to 150 from 130 from 2009,' Neel Mani said.
The shortage of officers is taking its toll on the law and order situation and development work. Even BPS officers have been posted as SPs. For example, Saurabh Kumar (who has not yet been given IPS tag) is posted as SP, Madhubani, while Varun Kumar Sinha (another BPS officer) is holding the charge of Madhepura. A.K. Sayarthi (BPS officer) is posted as SP, Saran.
In the IAS, Madan Mohan Prasad (promoted from state service quota) is posted as special secretary in the finance department while D.N. Jha is posted as director, BREDA. There are 60 vacancies in the IAS, which are to be filled up with the state service officers. Under the provisions, 80 officers are to be promoted to IAS cadre from the state service.
Sources said the state government has also pleaded with the home ministry and the UPSC to provide for promotion of state police officers to the IPS on the proposed pattern of promotion of the officers of central para-military forces. The Centre, sources said, is going to introduce a promotion policy for the officers of central para-military forces such as CRPF, BSF and SSB on the pattern of promotion of army officers to the rank of IPS.
“The Bihar government has urged the Centre to bring police officials under the purview of this scheme,” a senior home department official said. He said if the Centre agrees, the Bihar police officials can be promoted to the rank of IPS on a regular basis as the state would not have to wait for the UPSC to convene a meeting for the purpose.
