Services hit as 20,000 more Karnataka govt jobs go vacant

Bengaluru: Karnataka has added 20,466 vacancies in government jobs this year, according to data, which shows that one-third of all posts in the administration are unoccupied, leading to service delays for citizens. 

The state has 7.72 lakh sanctioned government jobs. Of them, 2.76 lakh jobs are vacant. Last year, the number of vacant jobs was 2.55 lakh. 

The Congress, in its 2023 election manifesto, had promised to fill up vacancies in all government departments within a year. It has been a year and seven months. 

According to the finance department, hiring is being permitted on a "case-to-case" basis. But evidently, the Siddaramaiah administration is forced into fiscal prudence measures due to huge expenditure on the 'guarantee' schemes -- over Rs 63,000 crore has been spent on them so far -- and that means going slow on recruitment. 

"Vacancies create work delays for citizens while encouraging corruption," Karkala BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar, a former minister, said. 

Kumar cited an example from his Udupi district. "Converting agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes is necessary for people to build homes. They need to apply with the urban development department. In Udupi, there are only two employees for this. There is no way they can do spot visits to dispose of the applications. So, a service that costs Rs 2,000 is now happening for Rs 25,000!" he said. 

The agriculture department is among the worst with 65% staff shortage. 

"I am utterly in dismay. How can people even function with so many vacancies?" Sarvodaya Karnataka's Melkote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah said rhetorically. "There is fluff that needs to be removed and re-allocated to the frontline service-providing departments," he added.

Darshan, who was a C-suite software leader in the US, said he did some analysis. "Government employees work 12-15 hours daily. They are overworked," he said.

"During a meeting I had with one department, 85% of people there got jobs on compassionate grounds. That means people who worked before them did not hit 60 years of age, which is a very high percentage of people dying before 60," he said.

Vacancies also mean more outsourcing. Over 96,000 Group 'C' and 'D' jobs -- stenographers, typists, drivers etc - are being outsourced.

Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission chairperson R V Deshpande said the government is not an agency to "create or give" jobs.

"It is for the private sector and public sector undertakings to do," he said. The senior lawmaker said administrative expenses are rising while developmental spending is comparatively decreasing. "While some departments require recruitment, the government needs to think about those where there is no workload."

In November 2022, then BJP chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had promised to fill up one lakh jobs within a year, which did not happen.