Lok Sabha Question No. 678 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-05
Subject: Vacant Posts
Ministry: PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
Asked by: S.R. Parthiban

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL & TRAINING)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 678

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.02.2020)

## VACANT POSTS

## 678. SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R.:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that about lakhs of Central Government jobs/posts are lying vacant and the Government has not taken any steps to fill up these vacant posts;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons  for  not  filling  up  these  sanctioned  posts, category-wise;
- (c) whether Central Government has slashed thousands of posts, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government has issued any guidelines to not revive posts lying vacant for a specific period and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the measures taken by the Government to fill up vacant posts in the Central Government Services in a time bound manner for various categories?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

(a) & (b):   As per Annual report of Pay Research Unit of Department of Expenditure, following is position w.r.t. vacancies as on 01.03.2018:-

|   Sanctioned strength |   Employee in position |   Vacant posts |
|-----------------------|------------------------|----------------|
|               3802779 |                3118956 |         683823 |

Vacancies in  the  Central  Government  are  caused  due  to  retirement,  resignation,  death, promotion etc. and the posts falling vacant are required to be filled as per recruitment rules by the concerned Ministries/ Departments/ Organisations. Filling up of vacant posts is a continuous process depending on the vacancies arising across Ministries/Departments during the  year and action calendar of the recruiting agencies.

During the current year 2019-20, three recruiting agencies namely, Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission & Railway Recruitment Board have made recommendations for  recruitment to the following posts:-

| UPSC   | 4,399    |
|--------|----------|
| SSC    | 13,995   |
| RRB    | 1,16,391 |
| TOTAL  | 1,34,785 |

Further,  recruiting agencies like SSC, Railway Recruitment Board, Postal Service Board and Ministry of Defence  are in process of filling up  of 3,10,832 vacant posts, including 27652 vacant posts of defence civilians.

(c)  &  (d):      Recruitment  against  vacant  posts  is  a  continuous  process.  By  the  time  vacancies reported by a Department get filled up, some new vacancies arise. Where a post remains vacant for more than two years/three years (newly created post), the same becomes 'deemed abolished' as  per  Department of Expenditure OM No. 7(1)/E-Coord-I/2007 dated 12.04.2017. Such posts are revived based on the functional justification. There is no system of abolishing posts in the Railways.

(e):      DOPT  issues  instructions  from  time  to  time  for  timely  and  advance  action  to  fill  up  the vacant posts. Recently, all Ministries/Departments have been requested to take time bound action to  fill  the  existing  vacancies  in  various  Ministries/Departments  and  their  attached/subordinate offices vide OM No. 43014/03/2019-Estt(B) dated 21.01.2020.

To  reduce  the  recruitment  cycle,  recruiting  agencies  have  switched  over  to  computer based  on  line  test,  interview  for  non-gazetted  posts  has  been  discontinued  and  provisional appointment is being made pending verification of antecedents of the candidates.

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