The Hammock Babus

It's a luxury a bankrupt state like Punjab (fiscal deficit: Rs 4,300 crore) can ill afford: a bloated, top-heavy bureaucracy, a quarter of which is made up of technically non-existent posts. Some 45 senior ias officers, mostly joint secretary rank to the Union government and above, have unauthorised jobs in which they draw salaries, have designations but little work.

By playing favourites among the bureaucracy and following a policy of arbitrary promotions in violation of cadre rules, the state government has created a mess, says a recent petition in the Supreme Court by senior Punjab cadre ias officer Karl Reddy. In bureaucratic circles, Reddy's petition has focused attention on the political mismanagement of the ias cadres by state governments which has resulted in hundreds of senior officers holding unauthorised posts, a needless drain on the exchequer. In the case of Punjab, the Central Administrative Tribunal (cat) has already "taken a serious view of the matter" and ordered "corrective action to be taken expeditiously".

Most state governments are no better than Punjab—in fact, several are as bad or far worse off. Maharashtra is one of the worst offenders with more than 70 extra posts. Gujarat—another state known for the politicisation of its bureaucracy—has created 45, as has Tamil Nadu. Even a small state like Manipur has created three extra jobs, while Himachal Pradesh has created 12. Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest contingent of ias officers by far, hasn't been able to inform the Centre about the exact number of excess posts.

As for arbitrary promotions, last fortnight, the 1974 batch in the UP cadre has been given the scale of additional secretary to the Union government while the 1985 batch has been given the scale of joint secretaries. This, when the Centre has yet to empanel the 1970 batch as additional secretaries. Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, the joint secretary scale has been given to the 1985 batch.

Creating jobs, says a senior UP cadre ias officer, is a means both of sidelining inconvenient officers and of rewarding compliant ones. A recalcitrant bureaucrat will find himself saddled with a meaningless post which carries a title and no work, while his junior may have an important job. A compliant one who cannot, for one reason or another, be accommodated in a cushy cadre post may find himself in a plush job with perks galore. Not surprisingly, officers prefer not to go to the central government, unless they are certain of a plum posting.

In his plea, Reddy has pointed out that one of the state government's first administrative acts was to promote 10 ias officers en masse, so that a relative of Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal could become chief secretary. This was R.S. Mann, who is now retired but has been re-employed by the state government. Similarly, in order to accommodate favoured but relatively junior officers in key jobs, posts had to be created for senior officers. (The other option would have been to find the senior officers "unfit", but that is a bold move few state governments dare make.) Some 70 officers, if the petition is to be believed, have been sidelined through this route.

While favoured officers held more than one key post, those in the doghouse held meaningless jobs, says Reddy's plea. For instance, one officer of the 1972 batch is in charge of "printing and stationery" and another looks after "freedom fighters". The state ended up being extremely top-heavy, with half its officers in the scale of joint secretaries or above—in fact, no less than 28 were in the grade of a secretary to the government and above.

State governments use a provision termed "state deputation reserve" in order to create jobs. In the triennial (now five-yearly) cadre review by the central government, the number of posts in each of five categories are fixed. Some officers hold cadre posts, others go to the central government (central deputation reserve), some go on training or on leave and the rest are sent on deputation to psus, corporations, etc within the state. For instance, Punjab is allowed 193 officers, of which 26 can be accommodated in the state deputation reserve. The actual number is 70. So, while the state government may not cross the total sanctioned strength, the number of officers on deputation within the state would be far more than allowed.

The government of Punjab admitted that "the present position and strength of the ias cadre in Punjab is not in conformity with the sanctioned strength of the cadre". It pleaded that it was forced to promote officers because of directives from the central government. This is not the case—the central government issues guidelines on promotion of officers, but this is against vacancies available, says an agmut cadre officer. Also, the fact that officers may not want to go to the Centre is no excuse to create jobs for them in the state. The Centre is at fault only if it refused to pick up officers from the central deputation reserve.

So, the ball gets tossed around as our officialdom keeps becoming obese, feeding like a glutton on the dwindling exchequer.