Depleting IAS officer strength may choke administration

Karnataka will face severe shortage of IAS officers in the coming years, as a total of 29 officers are set to retire in 2013, after attaining the age of superannuation.

“This is the first time such a large number of senior bureaucrats are retiring in one year not only in Karnataka, but also in any other state in India,” a senior official in the Department of Personnel and Training told Deccan Herald.

Chief Secretary S V Ranganath, Additional Chief Secretary Subir Hari Singh, Chief Electoral Officer C S Suranjan, Bangalore Development Authority Chairman C S Kedar and Food and Civil Supplies Secretary B A Harish Gowda are among those scheduled to retire next year.

In Karnataka, of the total sanctioned strength of 299 IAS officers, only 219 officers are serving at present and the State is facing a shortage of 80 IAS officers.

Also, the number of officers allotted to the State by the Centre is very less. In 2012, a total of 13 officers retired, while in 2014, a total of 17 officers are scheduled to retire.

Sources in the Karnataka government said though the State had requested the Centre to sanction at least 10 to 12 IAS officers every year to the State, the Centre is allotting only six to seven IAS officers.

Union Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy told Parliament recently that the Centre had received requests from some state governments for increasing the quota of IAS officers, in view of their increased administrative, social and other obligations towards people.

The proposals of the state governments were being considered as per the provisions of IAS (Cadre) Rules, which mandate the Union government to re-examine the strength and composition of IAS officers, in consultation with the state concerned at an interval of every five years, he said.

Narayanasamy said the present strength of the IAS was 4,377 against the authorised strength of 6,154 in the country. While Uttar Pradesh stood first with a shortage of 216 officers, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh stood second and third, with a shortage of 128 and 118 officers, respectively.

The South Indian states - Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh - together face a 23 per cent shortage of IAS officers.