New Delhi, Aug. 1: Bihar has the most number of vacancies in the elite Indian Administrative Service cadre and also has a substantial shortage of Indian Police Service officers.
According to figures available with the department of personnel and training (DoPT), a total of 1,470 posts of IAS officers are lying vacant across the country. Bihar tops the list with 128 vacancies followed by Uttar Pradesh (115) and West Bengal (99).
Likewise, a total of 938 posts of IPS officers are vacant countrywide. Bihar is placed fifth after Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Odisha and Karnataka.
Junior home minister Kiren Rijiju today informed Parliament that there are 3,905 IPS officers in the country as against their total sanctioned strength of 4,843. Similarly, a data compiled by DoPT show there are 4,926 IAS officers in the country against their total authorised strength of 6,396.
The highest number of vacancies of IPS officers are in Uttar Pradesh (113) followed by Bengal (87), Odisha (79), Karnataka (72) and Bihar (43).
The Union home ministry is the cadre controlling authority of the IPS. DoPT, which reports to the Prime Minister's Office, is in charge of the IAS cadre.
Terming the shortage as a big "national issue", a senior home ministry official said: "Bihar is grappling with a severe shortage of IAS and IPS officers and that could cripple or slow down the state's development."
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha today, Rijiju said the number of sanctioned posts of IPS depends on functional requirement of a particular cadre. "As per rule 4 (2) of IPS cadre rules 1954, the Centre at the interval of every five years reviews the strength and composition of each such cadre in consultation with the state governments concerned and reviews the authorized strength of the IPS for each cadre," he said.
Rijiju said that to fill up the vacancies of IPS officers, the batch size (direct recruit) was increased from 88 to 103 in 2005, then to 130 in 2008 and to 150 in 2009.
"Efforts are also being made to expedite the process of appointments to the Indian Police Service by promotion from the state police service," the junior home minister said.
Sources in the DoPT said the Centre had also increased the annual intake of IAS officers to 182 during the last four years.
"Besides promotion from the state police service, the Centre is also planning to induct 70-80 IPS officers annually from paramilitary forces through a competitive examination to fill up the growing number of vacancies," said a senior home ministry official.
"However, a state can always write to the Centre seeking a mid-term review to increase its cadre strength both in IAS and IPS categories," the official added.
Sources said a committee set up by the Centre in its report had recommended several measures to arrest the growing shortage of IPS officers, among them lessening the period of cadre review from five years to two.
