24 joint secretary level vacancies at Centre; Defence, MHA are short of officers; Full List

DURING the last one week, the Centre has appointed a number of IPS and Group “A” service officers in various Central government ministries and departments. For example, 2001 batch IPS Sindhu Pillai was appointed as deputy secretary in department of financial service, 2000 batch IRTS Manoj Kumar Gangeya as director in the ministry of environment, forests and climate change, and IRS-IT officer Abhay Damle as joint secretary in the ministry of road, transport and highways. Also, for time being, 1984 batch IPS officer Karnal Singh will continue as Enforcement Director (ED), considered as an IAS post. Yet, as on today, there are as many as 24 vacancies at the level of joint secretaries in GoI. Here is the list of the vacant posts:

1. DG (Information), Election Commission of India
2. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines
3. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs
4. Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism
5. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence
6. DG, Election Commission of India
7. Joint Secretary, Department of Justice
8. Principal Commissioner, DDA, Ministry of Urban Development
9. Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology
10. Dy. Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India
11. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
12. DDG, UIDAI, Chandigarh
13. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence
14. DDG, UIDAI, Mumbai
15. DEC, Election Commission of India
16. Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce
17. Development Commissioner (Handicraft), Ministry of Textiles
18. ADGFT, Mumbai, Department of Commerce
19. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence
20. Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation
21. Joint DG, Ministry of Civil Aviation
22. Joint Secretary (e-Governance), Department of Electronics and Information
Technology
23. Joint Secretary, Department of Telecommunications
24. Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs
In fact, a number of officers were repatriated to the states in the last few months, and the process of replacing them seems quite slow. Also, there are reports that many JS-empanelled officers are not keen to come to the Centre on deputation.
But if this list is any indication, there are vacancies in some key ministries too. For example, the ministry of defence is short of three joint secretaries and the MHA, DEA of one each.