Patna,(BiharTimes): The Bihar government has requested the Union ministry of personnel to return the services of 18 senior IAS officers in the secretary and principal secretary ranks, to their home state, owing to the serious shortage it is facing.
These officers are from 1989 to 2001 batches and reports said that many of them have overstayed the prescribed duration of their central deputation.
“We have sent the request for their return last week and hoping for a positive response from the Union government. The request has been made in view of the shortage of officers at the senior level in the state cadre,” D S Gangwar, principal secretary, general administration department, was quoted in Hindustan Times.
As Bihar is facing shortage of more than 100 officers the state government is now in no mood to let other IAS officers go on central deputation.
Incidentally, according to reports, Gangwar, a 1989 batch officer, himself figures on the list of officers in line for central deputation but has to wait for his turn because of the shortage.
As per figures cited by general administration department, the sanctioned strength of IAS officers in the state is 340. As against this, the actual availability in the state is 190, including officers promoted from state administrative service to all India service.
In addition, 41 officers are on central deputation, while five officers on deputation to other states.
However, minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions, Jitendra Singh, had made a written submission in the Lok Sabha in March this year, stating, that at 128, Bihar had the highest IAS vacancies among all states. .
This shortfall is stated to be the reason why some officers have been given responsibility of three to four departments in the state secretariat. At the field level, the scenario is better given the increase in allotment of officers from the UPSC to state in recent years, facilitating the posting of young officers as SDOs and DDCs, the daily reported.
Under the service rules, an officer having completed nine years of service in state cadre can apply for central deputation for five years and again apply for Union posting after having served in state cadre for another three years.
