The Union Government has said that vacancies in IAS and other services are regularly assessed, and all advertised IAS vacancies are filled while considering the reservation guidelines issued by the government. A total of 180 candidates have been recruited to the IAS through the Civil Services Examination each year since 2012, with 4 percent of these seats reserved for candidates with benchmark disabilities (PwBD).
This information was shared in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of Personnel and Training Jitendra Prasad in a written reply on Wednesday.
Earlier, when the government had shared detailed data on backlog vacancies in the Indian bureaucracy, the opposition parties had raised the issue of the government being silent on the numbers of civil servants belonging to the reserved categories working in the country.
Prasad added that currently, there are no backlog vacancies in the IAS as well as no backlog reserved posts in the IPS as of January 1, 2025.
The Personnel Minister also clarified that over the past five years, 245 candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), 135 from Scheduled Castes (SC), and 67 from Scheduled Tribes (ST) have been appointed to the IAS.
Similarly, 255 individuals from the OBC, 141 from SC, and 71 from ST have been appointed to the IPS during the same period (CSE 2020 to CSE 2024).
In a separate reply, the minister said that there are currently 1,029 vacant posts for Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers, with a sanctioned strength of 3,193.
Prasad further added that recruitment is a continuous process, and vacancies in these services are filled on a year-to-year basis considering the administrative requirements across the states as well as promotion prospects and career growth available to the officers.
Singh also mentioned that detailed information regarding sanctioned posts, personnel in position, and vacancies in various ministries and departments of the Union government is available in the annual reports of the Pay Research Unit, Department of Expenditure, which are publicly accessible.
In a separate response, he said that maintenance of detailed information regarding vacancies is the responsibility of the respective cadre controlling authorities/ministries/departments.
Singh was asked whether the government has conducted any preliminary study regarding estimated positions sanctioned, in position and vacancies across all central government ministries and departments.
The minister said that the occurrence and filling-up of vacant posts in various ministries/departments is a continuous process and that instructions are issued from time to time to ministries/departments for the filling of vacant posts in a time-bound manner.
He further informed the Lower House that vacancies in the Union government have been addressed in a mission-mode approach, with several lakh appointment letters distributed to recommended or selected candidates during the national Rozgar Mela events held since October 2022.
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