Karnataka is facing a severe crunch of senior IAS officers. So much so that it is compelled to manage the state of affairs with less than 50 per cent of its senior IAS cadre functioning in the state. The gravity of the situation can be understood by the fact that the state has only seven IAS officers with experience of 30 years and above working in the state right now.
This grim scenario is prevailing despite the state having provisions for as many as 25 additional chief secretary (ACS)-rank officers and 19 of those currently sanctioned.
These seven officers are shouldering several responsibilities, juggling their roles in at least two to three critical departments. For instance, Energy ACS Gaurav Gupta (IAS:1990:KL) is also doubling up as ACS for water resources, while ACS for the Finance department, L K Atheeq (IAS:1991:KN), has additional responsibilities at the chief minister’s office (CMO).
Another senior IAS officer, Anjum Parvez (IAS:1994:KL), is handling RDPR and the Forest department, while urban development department ACS SR Umashankar (IAS:1993:KN) is also doubling up as the BBMP administrator. Besides, Umashankar is also functioning as the ACS for the home department.
This situation is not limited to the senior most officers only. The number of second and third-rung IAS officers in terms of seniority is also down to approximately 50% of its functional strength.
A senior IAS officer rues that the critical departments facing serious challenges are being juggled around between these seven IAS officers, with the line of succession quite bleak at the moment.
According to the government data, Karnataka has a sanctioned strength of 281 IAS officers, but has only 250 currently functioning, including 25 IAS officers on central deputation.
The situation is unlikely to improve as more than half the ACS-rank officers currently on central deputation are said to be unwilling to return to their home cadre due to family commitments and career growth.
The Karnataka government is said to be seriously devising ways to fill the vacuum. As per a cabinet minister, it is considering shortening of the tenure of probationary and senior-scale officers at the same level. It means instead of having a longer tenure, like being a deputy commissioner or chief executive officer (CEO) of a district or zilla panchayat for three or four rounds, after two rounds, an IAS officer can be pushed up the chain to fill in the vacuum.
