Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government will reduce the number of All India Services officers in the state as part of its efforts to control bureaucratic expenditure and make the administrative structure more efficient. The proposed exercise will cover officers in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Forest Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS). The proposal will be made available to the central government soon.
According to officials, the state is working on a proposal to reduce the strength of IAS officers from 153 to 130. That would mean a reduction of 23 posts. The proposed cut is even larger for the Indian Forest Service, with the number of IFS officers to be down from 118 to 83, which is 35 officers.
The exact number of IPS officers that the state intends to reduce has not yet been finalised. However, the police service is also expected to be part of the broader review of the state's All India Services cadre strength.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the state could function with an even smaller number of IAS officers. “It’s possible that 100 or 110 officers would be required,” he said. But the government is seeking only 23 officers at this stage because it wants to keep administrative requirements at bay while it is concerned about the expenditure.
Sukhu said that the government’s objective is not to maintain a large bureaucracy but instead to have officers in the field to put in place government policies and welfare schemes. Therefore, the proposed reduction is presented as an administrative efficiency measure rather than simply a cost-cutting exercise.
We hope that the state government will continue to promote All India Services officers to opt for central deputation. It is a good idea that the officers who want to take up central government positions will be granted permission to do so at once, which could help the state deal with a depleted cadre base and senior officers would be able to take on roles outside Himachal Pradesh but not work in such a limited time period.
At present, more than 20 IAS officers are on deputation. Also, more than a dozen IPS and IFS officers are on deputation. Some officers are working in positions in the state that are not part of the traditional cadre structure.
The proposed reduction is in line with the high cost of keeping senior officers. The All India Services officer is estimated to be around Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh per year when salary, dearness allowance, attached staff and other facilities and benefits are taken into account.
Reducing sanctioned strength could therefore help the state lower recurring administrative expenses. For a financially constrained state like Himachal Pradesh, where government expenditure and debt pressures remain important policy concerns, even gradual cuts in recurring costs could have an impact on the overall fiscal position.
The state government is also expected to ask the Centre to avoid allocating additional central service officers to Himachal Pradesh. A larger number of officers than needed to maintain the same level of administrative expenditure and not the delivery of public service would increase administrative cost without improving the delivery of public services, officials say.
The proposal will be taken up at the central level because the strength and allocation of All India Services cadres are governed through the Centre-state administrative framework. Any formal reduction would therefore need approval through the appropriate process.
The government is arguing that a more efficient but smaller administrative structure would increase accountability, and in turn officers would have clear roles to take on. Instead of increasing the number of senior officials, the state wants to concentrate on officers who will be involved directly in the development programmes and government schemes.
The changes can also change Himachal Pradesh’s administrative vacancies, deputation policy and cadre allocations. If it is approved, the reduction would represent a major restructuring of the All India Services strength of the state.
The proposal is still being prepared. When it is completed, it will be presented to the central government for consideration. The outcome will help Himachal Pradesh to follow through on the plan of reducing the number of IAS and IFS officers and build a leaner administration while maintaining enough human resources for governance and public service delivery.
