New Delhi, March 25
The government told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that 1,300 posts in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 505 posts in the Indian Police Service (IPS) are lying vacant. In a written reply, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said there were 5,577 IAS officers in position against a sanctioned strength of 6,877.
He said the IPS had 4,594 officers in place against a sanctioned strength of 5,099.
The minister also said there were 1,029 vacancies in the Indian Forest Service (IFoS), which has a sanctioned strength of 3,193.
Mr Singh said recruitment to the all-India services was a continuous process and vacancies were filled on a year-to-year basis, taking into account administrative needs across states, promotion prospects and career progression.
He said that since 2012, 180 candidates had been recruited to the IAS each year through the Civil Services Examination, with 4% of seats reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities.
According to the minister, vacancies are regularly assessed and all advertised IAS vacancies are filled in line with reservation rules laid down by the government.
He said there were currently no backlog vacancies in the IAS and no backlog reserved posts in the IPS as of 1 January 2025.
Singh also gave details of appointments made through recent civil services examinations.
Over the past five years, 245 candidates from Other Backward Classes, 135 from Scheduled Castes and 67 from Scheduled Tribes were appointed to the IAS, he said.
During the same period, 255 candidates from Other Backward Classes, 141 from Scheduled Castes and 71 from Scheduled Tribes were appointed to the IPS.
In a separate response, the minister said the occurrence and filling of vacancies across ministries and departments was an ongoing process.
He said the government had issued instructions from time to time to ensure vacant posts were filled in a time-bound manner.
Mr Singh added that vacancies in the Union government were being addressed through a “mission mode” approach, including through the national Rozgar Mela programme, under which several lakh appointment letters have been distributed since October 2022.
He said detailed information on sanctioned posts, staff in position and vacancies across ministries and departments was available in the annual reports of the Pay Research Unit under the Department of Expenditure.
