Admin gets ‘top-heavy’ due to promotion spree ahead of polls

With the general elections several months away, there have been promotions much beyond the designated posts in the upper echelon of the country's public administration, which former bureaucrats and experts fear will render it top-heavy and create imbalance.

The Ministry of Public Administration on 4 September night promoted 221 deputy secretaries to the rank of joint secretary. Earlier, 114 joint secretaries were promoted to additional secretaries in May.

Most of the promoted officers will remain in their current positions, a practice known as "in-situ" promotion.

According to the Ministry of Public Administration website, as on 5 September, there are 81 senior secretaries and secretaries, of whom 21 are in senior and equivalent positions. The rest are secretaries. There are 337 posts of additional secretaries, but currently, the number of additional secretaries is 394.

Similarly, there are 502 posts of joint secretary, but 945 are currently designated in the post while there are 1,480 deputy secretaries against 1,000 regular posts. In addition, there are 1,865 senior assistant secretaries and 1,433 assistant secretaries.

Experts observe that the government is attempting to garner support within the administration by giving promotions without creating new posts. This, they say, is inconsistent with the government's stated goal of reducing operating expenses.

They point out that the promotions will add to the government's financial burden as they will require the payment of additional salaries and allowances.

Ali Imam Majumdar, former secretary of the Cabinet Division, told The Business Standard, "In-situ promotions without merit will not improve the quality of administration. Instead, it will increase the financial burden on the state exchequer. Moreover, if promoted officials are assigned to lower posts without any additional responsibilities, it will create an imbalance in the administration."

The experts find the current administrative structure top-heavy, with too many people in senior positions and not enough people in lower positions. The ideal administrative structure is pyramid-shaped, with a small number of people in senior positions and a larger number in lower positions.

A former cabinet secretary told TBS on condition of anonymity that the government is not able to ensure timely appointments in the civil service. He said the government is giving more promotions than there are posts available in an attempt to appease the bureaucracy.

In 2018, before the national election, the government promoted officials to the posts of additional secretary, joint secretary, and deputy secretary in three phases, even though there were no vacant posts. People concerned have said the government is planning to do the same again as they are planning to promote deputy secretaries within a few days.

According to the Ministry of Public Administration, more than 5 lakh posts were vacant in 2022 in the 20 grades of the civil service. Of these, about 63,000 posts were vacant from grade nine to grade one.