Lok Sabha Question No. 5056 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-01
Subject: Shortage of Staff in Passport Offices
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Hibi Eden

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5056 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2022

## SHORTAGE OF STAFF IN PASSPORT OFFICES

## 5056.   SHRI HIBI EDEN :

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a)    the total number of passport offices in the country and number of employees working therein indicating the number of approved posts and  vacancies under various categories, State-wise;
- (b)    whether the Government has taken any remedial measures to fill up these vacancies,  if so, details thereof and if not, reasons therefor;
- (c)    whether there is an increase in number of applications seeking PCC, passport, under the jurisdiction of Regional Passport Office (RPO) Kochi, if so, the details thereof during the last three years, year-wise;
- (d)       whether   the   Government   has   noticed   that   there   is   continued shortage of staff at various levels in RPO, Kochi, if so, the details thereof  including   the   number  of   approved   posts   and   number   of vacancies under various categories; and
- (e)   whether the Government has records of awardees under the category 'best passport office', if so, the details of winners during the last ten years?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]

(a) There are 36 Passport Offices in India. The sanctioned strength of Central Passport Organisation is 2741 and the actual working strength of the Central Passport Organisation (CPO) Cadre as on 01.03.2022 is 1723. The Sanctioned and Working strength of Employees at different levels in Passport Offices (State/UT-wise) as on 01.03.2022 is at Annexure -A.

- (b)         The Government has taken the following measures to fill up the existing vacancies at the Passport Offices:

Regular placement of indents for recruitment of Office Assistants (MTS),   Junior   Passport   Assistants,   Assistant   Superintendents,   Junior Translation Officers and Stenographers with Staff Selection Commission (SSC).   395 posts at various levels have been indented to SSC.     92 dossiers have been received recently from Staff Selection Commission.

Ministry has also hired 347 Data Entry Operators (DEOs) and 51 Multi Tasking Staffs (MTSs) from an Outsourced Agency as an interim measure against  the   vacant   non-Gazetted   posts   for   smooth   functioning   of   the

Passport Offices.

T o fill up the existing vacancies at various grades in the CPO, regular meetings of the Department Promotion Committees (DPCs) have been held for the promotion of eligible officials to the next grade.

Appointing officers on deputation basis as per Recruitment Rules of Deputy Passport Officer and Passport Officer.

(c)     There has not been any increase in the number of applications seeking PCC, Passports at the Regional Passport Office, Cochin.  The total number of applications received for PCC and passports at the Regional Passport Office, Cochin for the last three years is as under:

|   Year | Total Applications Received (Passport, PCC, Surrender Certificate etc.) PCC Issued   | Total Applications Received (Passport, PCC, Surrender Certificate etc.) PCC Issued   | Passports Issued   |
|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------|
|   2019 | 5,35,909                                                                             | 47,726                                                                               | 4,80,873           |
|   2020 | 2,90,244                                                                             | 26,565                                                                               | 2,67,274           |
|   2021 | 4,22,770                                                                             | 46,352                                                                               | 3,67,890           |

(d)    There is shortage of manpower across the Regional Passport Offices due to the difference between the sanctioned strength (SS) and actual working strength (WS) in the Central Passport Organisation. At present the sanctioned and the working strength of Regional Passport Office, Cochin at different levels is as under:

| Group 'A' (Gazetted)   | Group 'A' (Gazetted)   | Group 'B' (Gazetted)   | Group 'B' (Gazetted)   | Group 'B' (non-Gazetted) and Group 'C'   | Group 'B' (non-Gazetted) and Group 'C'   |
|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| SS                     | WS                     | SS                     | WS                     | SS                                       | WS                                       |
| 10                     | 6                      | 24                     | 19                     | 81                                       | 24                                       |

Recently, 92 dossiers of Junior Passport Assistants (Group 'C') were received from the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) for appointment in the Central Passport Organisation,     out of which ten appointment letters have been issued for the Regional Passport Office, Cochin.   RPO Cochin has also engaged 10 Data Entry Operators from the Outsourced Agency to ease the pressure of shortage of staff.

(e)   The Government has started awarding the 'Best Passport Office' awards since 2015.  The details of winners are as under:

|   Year | Passport Office    |
|--------|--------------------|
|   2015 | Cochin             |
|   2016 | Cochin             |
|   2017 | Cochin             |
|   2018 | Thiruvananthapuram |
|   2019 | Jalandhar          |
|   2020 | Jalandhar          |
|   2021 | Cochin             |

## Annexure -A

## Sanctioned Strength (SS) and Working Strength (WS) of Employees at different levels in Passport Offices (State/UT-wise) as on 01.03.2022

| Sl.No .                                            | States/Union Territories (Passport Offices)                   | Group 'A' (Gazetted)   | Group 'A' (Gazetted)   | Group 'B' (Gazetted)   | Group 'B' (Gazetted)   | Group 'B' (non-Gazetted) and Group 'C;   | Group 'B' (non-Gazetted) and Group 'C;   |
|----------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
|                                                    |                                                               | SS                     | WS                     | SS                     | WS                     | SS                                       | WS                                       |
| 1. 1 Andhra Pradesh (Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam) | 1. 1 Andhra Pradesh (Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam)            | 7                      | 5                      | 21                     | 24                     | 69                                       | 44                                       |
| 2                                                  | Assam (Guwahati)                                              | 2                      | 3                      | 5                      | 3                      | 28                                       | 25                                       |
| 3                                                  | Bihar (Patna)                                                 | 6                      | 3                      | 14                     | 16                     | 49                                       | 38                                       |
| 4                                                  | Chandigarh                                                    | 10                     | 5                      | 27                     | 9                      | 93                                       | 44                                       |
| 5                                                  | Chhattisgarh (Raipur)                                         | 2                      | 2                      | 4                      | 2                      | 15                                       | 13                                       |
| 6                                                  | Delhi                                                         | 24                     | 8                      | 31                     | 22                     | 145                                      | 97                                       |
| 7                                                  | Goa (Panaji)                                                  | 2                      | 2                      | 5                      | 4                      | 19                                       | 17                                       |
| 8                                                  | Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Surat)                                    | 13                     | 12                     | 40                     | 20                     | 132                                      | 80                                       |
| 9                                                  | Himachal Pradesh (Shimla)                                     | 2                      | 2                      | 4                      | 3                      | 14                                       | 9                                        |
| 10                                                 | Jammu and Kashmir (Jammu and Srinagar)                        | 5                      | 5                      | 12                     | 3                      | 39                                       | 36                                       |
| 11                                                 | Jharkhand (Ranchi)                                            | 2                      | 1                      | 5                      | 6                      | 19                                       | 17                                       |
| 12                                                 | Karnataka (Bengaluru)                                         | 13                     | 14                     | 35                     | 18                     | 120                                      | 39                                       |
| 13                                                 | Kerala (Cochin, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram)             | 26                     | 21                     | 66                     | 50                     | 218                                      | 87                                       |
| 14                                                 | Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal)                                       | 3                      | 8                      | 9                      | 6                      | 34                                       | 33                                       |
| 15                                                 | Maharashtra (Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune)                         | 26                     | 15                     | 65                     | 31                     | 218                                      | 106                                      |
| 16                                                 | Odisha (Bhubaneswar)                                          | 2                      | 2                      | 7                      | 6                      | 24                                       | 9                                        |
| 17                                                 | Punjab (Amritsar and Jalandhar)                               | 10                     | 6                      | 26                     | 10                     | 84                                       | 56                                       |
| 18                                                 | Rajasthan (Jaipur)                                            | 7                      | 3                      | 18                     | 14                     | 55                                       | 38                                       |
| 19                                                 | Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchirappalli) | 22                     | 16                     | 59                     | 45                     | 199                                      | 119                                      |
| 20                                                 | Telangana (Hyderabad)                                         | 11                     | 11                     | 30                     | 21                     | 102                                      | 61                                       |
| 21                                                 | Uttar Pradesh (Bareilly, Ghaziabad and Lucknow)               | 19                     | 11                     | 54                     | 36                     | 175                                      | 146                                      |
| 22                                                 | Uttarakhand (Dehradun)                                        | 2                      | 4                      | 5                      | 3                      | 20                                       | 10                                       |
| 23                                                 | West Bengal (Kolkata)                                         | 10                     | 9                      | 23                     | 11                     | 79                                       | 68                                       |
|                                                    | Total                                                         | 226                    | 168                    | 565                    | 363                    | 1950                                     | 1192                                     |

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