The Hindu Business Line : Over 4 lakh Govt posts vacant

According to official data made available in Parliament, a huge number of vacancies exists in crucial Ministries such as the Railways, Defence and Home Affairs, but there is no clarity in the Government on whether these positions are to be filled up or not.

As per the official information, the total number of sanctioned civilian posts lying vacant in various Central Government Ministries and Departments stands at 4,32,299.

The Ministry of Railways tops the list with 1,73,304 sanctioned posts that have not been filled up, followed by the Defence Ministry with vacancies in 1,19,492 sanctioned civilian posts.

Interestingly, the only Ministry where all the sanctioned posts are filled up is the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pensions, which functions directly under the Prime Minister with Mr Suresh Pachouri as the Minister of State.

However, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) itself is not so lucky. Out of the 502 sanctioned posts, 41 are vacant.

The Department of Posts comes third with 38,702 positions lying vacant across the country, followed by the Ministry of Home Affairs with 32,422 vacant positions.

Manpower gaps also exist in important Departments such as Revenue, where the vacant posts are said to be over 8,000. The Department of Science and Technology has over 5,000 vacant posts while the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation has more than 4,600 vacancies.

The total number of sanctioned posts in the Government is 35,60,433.

And what is the Government's stand on this? Is there a ban on recruitment or not?

Responding to a question by Lok Sabha member Mr P. Mohan of the CPI (M) last Wednesday, Mr Pachouri, through a written reply, said that there was no ban on recruitment in Central services.

He also provided detailed information on the number of sanctioned posts, the number of people in position and the number of vacancies.

On the same day, responding to a similar question from Mr Gurudas Dasgupta and Mr Suravaram S. Reddy, both of the CPI, Mr Pachouri said through a written reply that there was no ban on filling up vacancies but went on to add that there was no proposal to withdraw restrictions on fresh recruitment. Incidentally, his reply to the two MPs also mentioned the fact that "information regarding posts lying vacant in different Departments of the Central Government is not centrally maintained."

But he was able to provide the details on the vacancies in response to Mr Mohan's query.

When contacted, Mr Gurudas Dasgupta told Business Line: "This is how the Government carelessly replies to the questions, sometimes fully contradictory.

"Whatever the Government may say, the ban on recruitment still persists."