480K backlog posts filled in central govt since 2016: Jitendra Singh

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Occurrence and filling of vacancies, including the backlog ones, is a continuous process, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.

"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 drive," he said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Each ministry or department is also required to designate a liaison officer of deputy secretary rank or above and set up a special reservation cell under their direct control to ensure compliance with reservation-related orders, said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel.

The minister was responding to queries on percentage of persons employed from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in central government services and whether "there still exists a backlog in employment of persons from the reserved categories", among others.

"Occurrence and filling of vacancies, including the backlog vacancies, is a continuous process," he said.

According to data, furnished by various ministries and departments of the government, around 4.8 lakh backlog vacancies in central government posts and services have been filled up since 2016, he said.

"Ministries/departments of the central government have been advised from time to time, to fill up the vacant posts in a time bound manner," he added.

Reservation is provided to OBCs at 27 per cent, followed by 15 per cent to SCs and 7.5 per cent to STs, in direct recruitment on all India basis by open competition in central government posts and services, the minister said.

Further, in promotion, reservation is provided to SCs at 15 per cent and to STs at 7.5 per cent, he added.

In case of Persons with Disabilities, reservation both in direct recruitment and promotion (upto the lowest rung of Group A) is provided at 4 per cent, he said.

"Details of vacancies and posts filled up are maintained by the respective ministries, departments and organisations," Singh said.