State facing severe shortage of IAS, IPS officers: Govt data

Thiruvananthapuram: The state is facing a big shortage of IAS and IPS officers who are required to fill various cadre posts, figures show. As per the government figures, only 52% of the allotted strength of IPS officers and 62% of the allotted strength of IAS officers are available for service in state.
According to a reply byCM Pinarayi Vijayan in the assembly, the cadre strength of IAS officers is 231, out of which only 144 are available. Similarly, the cadre strength of IPS officers is 172, out of which only 90 officers are available for service in the state. The availability of Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers are also no better –– of the 107 posts, only 62 (58%) are available.
The shortage has multiple reasons- the shortage of officers allotted to the state cadre by the Centre over a particular period, the increase in number of posts over the years and the officers who chose to leave on deputation to the Centre and to their home state on inter-cadre deputation. Of the IAS officers allotted to the state cadre, 22 are on central deputation while two are serving in their home state. As many as six officers are in state deputation under the state government.
Equal is the number of IPS officers who are on deputation out of the state. While 23 IPS officers are on central deputation, one is on inter-cadre deputation in his home state. Only two IPS officers are on state deputation under the state government.
The state at present has one IAS, three IPS, and eight IFS officers who originally belong to other cadres, but have come to the state on inter-cadre deputation for three years.
The chief minister has also replied that the government has initiated steps to increase the all India services, through direct selection and selection from other services. It is with this intention that the state government had introduced Kerala administrative services, the selection for which is in the final stage of recruitment.
The state is running short of IAS officers, especially in the rank of secretary. The IAS officers from the batch 1997 to 2003 are presently in the secretary grade, in which there are only 10 now. While there are only 10 secretary-rank officers, there are only 12 officers in the ranks of principal secretary, who together are holding charges of portfolios that are more than thrice their total number. On an average, every officer in the rank of principal secretary or secretary grade is holding two to three additional charges in the state. Similar is the case with IPS as well, especially at the ranks of SPs and DIGs. Many officers are holding multiple charges in these ranks at present.