Top bureaucrats to retire in two years, state to face staff crunch

With around 35 IAS officers going to retire in the next two years, the state government is expected to face a dire shortage of bureaucrats in the near future.

The state administration will be losing some of its best officers this year due to their retirement. As many as 15 state civil service (SCS) officers selected as IAS officers from the state services are retiring in the current year.

Next year too, 12 SCS officers are due for retirement. Apart from the SCS officers, five IAS officers will retire on their superannuation in various months this year.

Among the direct recruit IAS officers retiring this year are chief secretary JS Banthia (May), TC Benjamin (September), TF Thekkekara (November) and Rameshchandra Sagar (April). Rahul Asthana, ex-chief of MMRDA, retired in February this year.

Of the 15 SCS officers retiring this year, those like Vijay Nahata (Konkan divisional commissioner), Bhaskar Munde (labour secretary) and RJ Jadhav (Nashik commissioner) had left their own mark in the administration.

An officer from the general administration department said: “Some of the officers with superb track records are retiring this year. Generally, four to five SCS officers retire every year. This time, the number is big. The total number of retiring officers, including 5 IAS officers, is 20 this year. The replacement of SCS officers is done the same year by the state government, but IAS officers are appointed on quota basis.”

Maharashtra has 244 sanctioned posts of direct recruit IAS and 106 posts of SCS officers, of which 40 and 13 respectively are vacant.

The government had demanded 15 IAS officers to be appointed in Maharashtra, keeping the shortfall of the officers in mind. However, the central government has informed the state that it will get only a maximum of 8 IAS officers.

“With 8 IAS officers allotted in Maharashtra cadre, the shortfall of the direct recruit IAS officers will remain for a few years,” he said.