IAS, IPS Cadre Crunch Hits Governance

The severe shortage of IAS and IPS officers in states across India has begun to adversely impact governance everywhere. There’s a deficit of over 3000 IAS and IPS officers – about 30% -- in the country and that may continue for some more years. As of now, though, key seats are empty, officers are holding multiple assignments and police officers missing in troubled districts. It’s a wonder how official work is getting done, if at all, in large swathes of India. 
    
With fewer bureaucrats in place, many senior officers in a number of states are burdened with multiple responsibilities. For instance, “a junior IAS officer who is posted as director in one department in Jharkhand is also the secretary in another. Similarly, an IAS officer is posted in the secretariat and also has to take care of outdoor work which creates problems in the execution of work in offices,” said a source in Ranchi. The state, with an IAS cadre strength of 208, has only 114 currently. Of these 16 are on central deputation. 
    
Former Jharkhand DGP V D Ram, who had asked the Centre to return IPS officers on central deputation, added that the police face insurmountable problems due to shortage of officers. “At times we know that a particular officer is not capable enough to be posted as SP of a district, but due to shortage of IPS officers we have no option. Most of the time this deprives us of the cutting-edge that we need to maintain law and order,” said Ram. In a Naxal-affected state, that’s not good news. 
    
In MP, the shortage of police officers is probably affecting morale, too, over problems of getting leave. There are only 238 IPS officers against a strength of 291. “The shortage may look small but it’s a huge gap,” said Arvind Kumar, IG, administration, police headquarters. “The scarcity is generally at the level of SP and SSP and we don’t have a choice of officers to be posted in districts. A minimum of 10% of leave reserve is also required and this creates problems,” added a senior IPS officer. 
    
Such shortfall can lead to inefficiency and delays at work. Punjab chief secretary Rakesh Singh said it puts undue pressure on the rest of the serving officers and officials. “If you have too many portfolios with you, it gets difficult to devote as much time as you would like to in order to do full justice to each subject,” he said. The sanctioned cadre strength for Punjab is 221 IAS and 172 IPS officers. 
    
As of now, the state has 180 IAS and 142 IPS officers. Most of the IAS officers are holding multiple charges and shuttling between different offices to keep appointments. Anirudh Tewari is secretary in three departments - power, personnel and non-conventional energy. 
    
In the Chandigarh UT administration, too, certain posts like that of finance secretary are saddled with 10-12 departments. Since the UT gets officers on deputation from Punjab and Haryana and the entire process of getting a new officer’s name cleared takes months, the functioning of the administration suffers. 
    
Likewise, in Haryana, governance is now largely dependent on state cadres of civil and police officers as it has just 163 IAS officers – with 20 on deputation to the Centre – and 102 IPS officers against the sanctioned strength of 205 IAS and 137 IPS officers. The state’s additional chief secretary, home, Samir Mathur, admitted the shortage of IPS officer, adding, “We have very efficient senior officers of state cadres who have been posted as additional SP in districts as well as in the field.” 
    
With increase in fresh intake of IAS/IPS officers a distant prospect, one way forward for the states could be former Jharkhand chief secretary AK Singh’s suggestion that regular appointments of junior officers be made through the state public service commissions, so that they get timely promotions.