Shortage of over 2,500 IAS, IPS officers, govt says

NEW DELHI: There is a shortage of 2,573 IAS and IPS officers in the country, minister of state for personnel V Narayayansamy informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Only 4,737 IAS officers were in position as on January 1, 2013, some 1,480 officers short of the authorized strength of 6,217 officers. Similarly, IPS officers in position as per the 2013 civil list stood at 3,637, some 1,093 short of the total authorized strength of 4,730 IPS officers.
"There is an overall shortage of IAS and IPS officers in the country," Narayanasamy said in a written reply to a question from Akali Dal MP from Punjab S S Dhindsa. He attributed the shortage to the rise in cadre size due to increased development activities and limited intake on account of constraints like training requirements, quality management and matching infrastructure.
"In case of promotion quota, it is not possible to fill up all the posts available because of litigation regarding the seniority of state civil service officers etc," said the minister.
The fixing of the strength and composition of a cadre of all-India service is governed by cadre rules. According to these rules, cadre strength is reviewed ordinarily after every five years. A mid-term review may, however, be sought by states to increase cadre strength. At present, state cadres of Assam-Meghalaya, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu have sent cadre review requests to the central government in respect of IAS officers.