New Delhi: More than 2,800 posts are lying vacant in the three All India Services — IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) — with the IAS alone facing a shortage of 1,300 officers, the government informed Parliament on Thursday.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said that as per the Civil List compiled on January 1, 2025, there are 1,300 vacancies in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 505 in the Indian Police Service (IPS) and 1,029 in the Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
According to the data, the IAS has a vacancy rate of about 18.9 per cent, with 1,300 posts vacant out of a sanctioned strength of 6,877. The IPS has around 9.9 per cent vacancies, with 505 unfilled against 5,099 sanctioned posts.
The IFoS is the worst hit, with 1,029 vacancies out of 3,193 sanctioned posts — translating into a vacancy rate of approximately 32.2 per cent.
Overall, across the three All India Services, 2,834 posts are vacant out of a combined sanctioned strength of 15,169, reflecting an overall vacancy rate of nearly 18.7 per cent.
The total authorised strength of IAS officers across cadres is 6,877, against which 5,577 officers are in position. In the IPS, 4,594 officers are in place against a sanctioned strength of 5,099, while in the IFoS, 2,164 officers are in position against 3,193 sanctioned posts.
Cadre-wise data placed in the reply shows that Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest authorised strength of 652 IAS posts, has 571 officers in position. In Madhya Pradesh, 391 IAS officers are in place against a sanctioned strength of 459, while Maharashtra has 359 officers against 435 sanctioned posts.
Similarly, in the IPS, states such as Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also show shortfalls between authorised strength and officers in position. The IFoS has seen particularly high vacancies, with several states reporting sizeable gaps between sanctioned and filled posts.
Responding to a separate part of the question, the minister said that during the last five years (Civil Services Examination 2020 to 2024), a total of 245 OBC, 135 SC and 67 ST candidates were appointed to the IAS through direct recruitment. In the IPS, 255 OBC, 141 SC and 71 ST candidates were appointed, while in the IFoS, 231 OBC, 95 SC and 48 ST candidates joined during the same period.
The data was shared in response to a question by CPI-M member John Brittas on the sanctioned strength, officers in position, representation of reserved categories and vacancies in the All India Services.
