New Delhi: In an irony of sorts, the country’s premiere recruitment agency — the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) — is itself battling staff crunch.
Perpetual vacancy should not be a norm
We observe that the UPSC is functioning with two-thirds of the sanctioned strength. Nothing can justify such a large number of vacancies. Perpetual vacancy should never be accepted as a norm. — Parliamentary panel on personnel
Tasked with recruiting officers for the Union Government services, the UPSC is operating at two-thirds of its sanctioned strength at the lower level, according to the data the ministry of personnel submitted to the department-related parliamentary committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice. The government records shared with the panel show that the UPSC is functioning at 75 per cent of its sanctioned strength with 25 per cent posts vacant.
Taking note of the situation, the committee, in its report to both Houses of Parliament, on Friday said: “We observe that the UPSC is functioning with two-thirds of the sanctioned strength. We are fully conscious of the fact that recruitment is a continuous process and that some vacancies exist at any given point of time. However, nothing can justify such a large number of vacancies that too in a recruiting body which itself is mandated to fill up vacancies. Perpetual vacancy should never be accepted as a norm.”
The panel headed by BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi said the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions must immediately recruit additional staff at the earliest and provide adequate budget to the commission to meet its increased establishment related expenditure.
The current status of staffing at the UPSC — as submitted to the panel by the ministry — reveals that out of the sanctioned strength of 158 section officers, 48 posts are vacant — that comes to a 30 per cent vacancy.
The sanctioned posts of assistant section officer are 358 and 103 positions (28.77 per cent) are vacant.
At the under secretary level, four posts out of the sanctioned 72 are vacant. At the level of directors and deputy secretaries, all 36 posts are filled.
The ministry, however, assured the committee that the vacancies at the under secretary, section officer and assistant section officer level would be filled by ad hoc promotion of eligible officers and the appointment of direct recruit assistant section officers through combined graduate-level examination by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC).