Shortage of Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officials is adversely impacting the functioning of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Union Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey has said in a letter to his counterpart in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interaction with Union Secretaries earlier this month had emphasised that employment generation should be given a high priority.
The Department under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs is responsible for implementing the flagship schemes of the government such as the National Food Security Act, Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana and One Nation One Ration Card among others.
The CSS comprising middle to senior management rank officials in various Union government ministries play a key role in government functions as files, documents and orders are processed by them. There are a total of 6,210 posts in the rank of section officer, under secretary, deputy secretary, director and joint secretaries drawn from the CSS pool. Of this total strength, as many as 1,839 positions are vacant as officials have not been promoted for the past six years and many have retired without being promoted. On Friday, DoPT wrote to all ministries to send vigilance clearance of 145 CSS officials, of which many section officers have already retired.
In an April 20 letter, Mr. Pandey drew the attention of DoPT Secretary P.K. Tripathi to a letter by Cabinet Secretary regarding prime minister’s interaction with union secretaries on April 2.
“….wherein it is emphasized by Hon’ble Prime Minister that employment generation should be given a high priority and should be the focus of Government interventions across public and private sectors. Every Ministry/ Department should immediately take steps to fill up the existing vacancies against sanctioned posts. There is shortage of Officers at various grades under Central Secretariat Service and Central Secretariat Stenographers’ Service in this Department,” Mr. Pandey said. Out of the 324 sanctioned posts in the Department, 87 are vacant.
It added that the Department is engaged in discharge of essential services including during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, work of this Department has become more critical and has multiplied manifold in order to implement National Food Security Act, Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana, One Nation One Ration Card, Fortification of Rice and its distribution in various States/UTs, Scheme for extending financial assistance to set up distilleries for producing first Generation (IG) ethanol from feed stocks etc.
“These vacancies are adversely impacting the functioning of Department and will hamper timelines and effectiveness in providing the essential services to the public. I would, therefore, be grateful if you could look into the matter personally and initiate action for filling up of these vacant posts in this Department under CSS/ CSSS urgently,” Mr. Pandey said.
