As many as 1,300 posts of IAS; 505 of IPS vacant: Govt in Lok Sabha

Story by PTI | Posted by Vidushi Gaur | Date 25-03-2026

Minister of State Jitendra Singh speaks in the Lok Sabha during the second part of the Budget session of Parliament

New Delhi

Over 1,300 posts in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 505 in the Indian Police Service (IPS) are currently vacant, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

In a written reply, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said that against a sanctioned strength of 6,877 IAS officers, only 5,577 are in position. Similarly, the IPS has 4,594 officers serving against an approved strength of 5,099.

The minister noted that recruitment to the IAS is carried out in accordance with reservation norms, with 180 candidates being inducted annually through the civil services examination since 2012. Of these, four per cent of seats are reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities.

He emphasised that the recruitment process through the Union Public Service Commission is continuous, and vacancies are assessed regularly. All notified IAS vacancies are filled in line with reservation policies, and there are currently no backlog vacancies in either the IAS or IPS as of January 1, 2025.

Providing further details, Singh said that over the past five years, 245 candidates from Other Backward Classes (OBC), 135 from Scheduled Castes (SC), and 67 from Scheduled Tribes (ST) have joined the IAS. In the IPS, 255 OBC, 141 SC, and 71 ST candidates have been recruited during the same period.

In a separate response, the minister highlighted that the Indian Forest Service (IFoS) is also facing a shortage, with 1,029 posts vacant out of a sanctioned strength of 3,193.

He reiterated that recruitment across these services is an ongoing process, carried out annually based on administrative needs, promotion avenues, and cadre management requirements.

Singh added that data on sanctioned strength and vacancies across ministries is maintained by respective departments and published in the annual reports of the Pay Research Unit under the Department of Expenditure.

The government, he said, has been working to fill vacancies in a time-bound manner, including through large-scale recruitment drives such as the Rozgar Mela, under which several lakh appointment letters have been distributed since October 2022.