About 100 out of 400 posts of Director and Deputy Secretary level are vacant in the Central Government Ministries and Departments affecting several development projects and policies announced by the Modi Government.
The Group A Director/Dy Secy post are the most significant post within the chain of hierarchy of the Ministry. They are the ones who do the paper work before the files reach the Joint Secretaries (JS), the first in the chain of decision making.
The largest numbers of vacant Directors are in the vital Defence Ministry followed by Department of Economic Affairs and HRD Ministry. There are equally large number of vacancies in Home and Urban Affairs ministries.
A senior Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) official said the Director level post were created mainly for the officials of the Central Secretariat Services (CSS). For some time, the officials of Group A Services like IRS, ITS, Railway Services, Customs and Excise, Postal Services have “encroached” on these posts.
“They (IAS, IPS, IRS etc) are now coming as Directors or equivalent post of Deputy Secretary to the Central ministries to enhance their career growth into SAG grade (Senior Administrative Grade) which is mandatory for a Central Government posting at a later stage. We can say they have encroached upon the CSS cadre and createdresentment amongst the Government officials,” explained the official.
As the availability of officers in the rank of Directors dwindles, the DoPT had to soften the rules for their postings. Keeping in view large number of vacancies in the grade of director, the authority relaxed the eligibility condition for promotion through an office memorandum some time ago.
However, when several CSS cadre officials were asked about refusal to join as Directors, they complained about lack of facility provided to them in terms of allowances, accommodations, vehicles (which is on a sharing basis with one vehicle for two Directors) when compared to the same grade and rank in State.
“Lot of paper work is there now in all the Ministries and Departments given the volume of countless schemes announced simultaneously. The Directors are cut out to initiate the process of schemes by examining them in detail. This is not an easy task given the risk involved in it,” rued a CSS cadre official.
On the other hand, an IAS posted as Director in a Ministry pointed that when one of them is posted as Director, he/she bring in the best practices and enrich the drafting of the government polices and schemes.
Eight posts are vacant in Defence, seven in Economic Affairs, six in Home, five in Hosuing and Urban Affairs, four in HRD, three each in various ministries like Rural Development, Commerce, Water Resources; two each in Ministries like Sports, NATGRID, Social Justice, DoPT and Election Commission of India.
Similarly, one Director level post remains vacant in a total of 23 Ministries like Steel, Shipping, Coal, Tribal Affairs, Power, Textiles etc., as per the vacancy notified by the DoPT till last month.