Over 42,000 posts reserved for SC, ST & OBC vacant in union ministries, govt tells Lok Sabha

Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh says there were 78,923 vacant posts under reserved categories on 1 January 2020, and 42,066 of them remain unfilled.

Parliament building in New Delhi | PTI File photo

New Delhi: Over 42,000 posts reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Castes (OBC) are vacant in various central government ministries, the Narendra Modi government has revealed.

In a written reply presented before Lok Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh shared data on the backlog of reserved vacancies on 1 January 2020 and the posts that have been filled since then.

According to the data, there were a total of 78,923 vacant posts under reserved categories in the railways, housing and urban affairs, defence production, defence, atomic energy, financial services and revenue ministries.

Of these, 42,066 posts still remain unfilled while 36,857 have been filled since 1 January last year.

The highest number of unfilled posts are for the OBC category with 15,088 of the 28,562 vacant posts reserved for them unfilled in these ministries.

Furthermore, 14,366 of the 28,345 vacant posts for SCs are unfilled while 12,612 of the 22,016 vacant posts for STs are also unfilled.

For all three categories, the most number of unfilled vacant posts are in the railways ministry with 5,559, 5,463 and 6,747 posts unfilled for SCs, STs and OBCs, respectively.

Singh’s reply was in response to a question addressed to Prime Minister Modi by BJP MPs Raksha Nikhil Khadse, Kapil Moreshwar Patil and Manoj Kotak.

‘Filling vacancies a continuous process’

In his written reply, Singh said while filling the vacancies is a continuous process, directions have been issued to constitute an in-House committee to study the reasons for such backlog.

“Filling of vacancies, along with backlog reserved vacancies, is a continuous process. Instructions have been issued to all Ministries/Departments of the Central Government to constitute an In-House Committee for identification of backlog reserved vacancies, to study the root cause of such vacancies, to initiate measures to remove the factors causing such vacancies and to fill them up through Special Recruitment Drives,” he said.

Singh added that a Liaison Officer will be designated by each ministry, who will also have a Special Reservation Cell to ensure due compliance with reservation.

(Edited by Rachel John)