There are 864 vacancies for the post of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, with a total of 4,120 IPS officers currently occupying posts out of an authorised strength of 4,984 officers, Centre informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

“The vacancies in the service are caused due to factors such as retirement, resignation, death, removal of service. As of January 1, 2022, the authorised strength of IPS officers is 4,984, against which 4,120 IPS officers are in position,” said Nityanand Rai, the minister of state for home affairs, in reply to DMK MP Gautham Sigamani Pon.

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Union minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh, in a written reply to Lok Sabha on December 14, noted that there is a vacancy for 1,472 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers and 1,057 Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers. The authorised strength of IAS personnel was 6,789 and 3,191 for IFS officers as on January 1, 2022, Singh noted.

According to Singh’s reply, 5,317 IAS officers and 2,134 IFS officers were currently occupying posts.

Rai added 226 posts comprising ranks to be filled with IPS officers such as the superintendent of police (SP) to director general (DG) in central organisations such as the central armed police forces (CAPFs) and central police organisations (CPOs) remain unfilled.

Responding to a question on whether IPS officers are not inclined to the central deputation, the Home Affairs MoS said, “During this year, 144 IPS officers have applied for central deputation. 95 IPS officers at various levels have been appointed to date in CAPFs and CPOs during this year.”

Under central deputation, a cadre officer may, with the concurrence of the state governments concerned and the central government, be deputed for service under the central government.

To fill the vacancies, Rai highlighted the Centre had increased the recruitment to IPS (Direct Recruitment) from 150 to 200 from the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2020.