Vacancies in IAS at alarming level: Panel

Bureaucratic vacancies, especially in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), have reached an “alarming level”, a parliamentary panel noted, adding that it will “require decades” to fill the existing shortage.

In its report, the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, and law and justice noted that almost all the key and strategic positions under the Union, as well as the states, are being manned by the IAS, and persistent shortage of IAS officers ultimately affects governance in the country.

The committee presented its report in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The panel cited vacancies as on January 1, 2016, which stand at 1,470 as against sanctioned strength of 6,396 in the IAS, which is considered the backbone of governance in the country.

“The committee expresses its serious concern over persistent shortage of IAS officers and strongly recommends that all efforts be made to fill these vacancies,” it said.

It said lack of training capacity should not become a reason for not filling vacancies of IAS officers, and if there is shortage of capacity in this regard, efforts should be made to enhance it to train more IAS officers.

The panel also underlined that Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, where IAS officers are trained, has the capacity to train more than 180 officers.