Gurugram: Haryana is running its administration with 44 fewer IAS officers than the sanctioned strength for the state. The state has been sanctioned 226 IAS officers, but has just 182 on the ground, a shortfall of nearly 20 percent. And the number is about to get worse.
Eight more officers are due to retire in the remaining four months of 2026, according to the state’s civil list. Suresh, principal secretary in the fisheries department, retires on 31 August.
Anita Yadav and Arun Kumar Gupta, principal secretary to the chief minister, both retire on 30 September. Sanjay Joon, the commissioner of Faridabad division, retires on 31 October.
Three more officers retire together on 30 November — Sudhir Rajpal, additional chief secretary for home and forests; Abhilaksh Likhi, currently on central deputation; and Geeta Bharti, commissioner of Hisar division. Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi rounds off the year, retiring on 31 December.
The shortage has pushed the state into unusual territory. Officers of the 2007 batch, who have only just been promoted to the rank of commissioner, are now being handed Administrative Secretary-level portfolios, a rung of responsibility that has traditionally gone to Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries with two decades more experience.
An IAS officer serving as a department director told ThePrint that the strain is evident in the way individual officers are now stretched across departments, in some cases across cities.
“Even those who have to look after multiple departments as administrative secretaries end up delaying decisions. That impact is real,” the officer said.
The case of Phool Chand Meena, a 2004-batch officer, illustrates the problem. He holds four charges: Commissioner and Secretary for the Human Resources Department (since 6 September 2025); Commissioner and Secretary for General Administration (since 15 September 2025); CEO of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (since 30 November 2025); and CEO of Faridabad Metropolitan Development Authority (since 19 March 2026).
The first two require him in Chandigarh. The third takes him to Gurugram. The fourth, to Faridabad.
Pankaj Yadav, a 2001-batch officer, carries an equally scattered set of charges, principal secretary for both Cooperation and Public Health Engineering, chairperson of the Water Resources Authority, and Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi. Three of his postings are in Chandigarh. The fourth is in the national capital.
Anish Yadav, director of development and panchayats in Chandigarh, is also managing director of HAFED in Panchkula, and managing director of the Haryana International Horticultural Marketing Corporation in Ganaur, Sonipat.
At the top of the hierarchy, the load is no lighter. Sudhir Rajpal of the 1990 batch is Additional Chief Secretary for home, jails, criminal investigation and administration of justice—departments that would normally be with one officer —as well as for environment, forests and wildlife.
Sumita Misra, his batchmate, is Additional Chief Secretary for revenue and disaster management, and, also, for health, medical education, and Ayush.
Apoorva Kumar Singh holds three Additional Chief Secretary charges of his own — higher education, public works (buildings and roads), and architecture.
The sanctioned strength itself was revised only weeks ago.
Through a notification dated 11 June 2026, the Department of Personnel and Training raised Haryana’s authorised IAS cadre strength from 215 to 226, under the Indian Administrative Service (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Seventh Amendment Regulations, 2026.
The increase was meant to give the state more room to plan postings. Instead, it has widened the gap on paper — the same 182 officers now have to fill 226 sanctioned posts.
With eight more exits by December and no matching inflow of officers, the gap between Haryana’s sanctioned IAS strength and its actual strength looks set to widen further before it narrows.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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