Many government departments in Kerala have significantly slowed down due to an acute shortage of IAS officers. Currently, government officials are burdened with four to five portfolios, while others manage considerably fewer. This imbalance has left bureaucrats struggling to effectively oversee even critical departments.
Kerala presently has only 126 IAS officers, against a sanctioned strength of 231. The shortage is further compounded by several senior officers being on central deputation and others serving as election observers in different states.
With top bureaucrats like Mr. Manoj Joshi (1989-batch IAS officer) and Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh (1989-batch IAS officer) continuing on central deputation, Ms. Sarada Muraleedharan (1990-batch IAS officer), the next senior IAS officer, was elevated to the Chief Secretary post after Mr. V. Venu’s (1990-batch IAS officer) retirement. Mr. Kamala Vardhana Rao, a 1990-batch officer senior to Officer Muraleedharan, is also on central deputation.
Mr. Raju Narayana Swamy (1991-batch IAS officer), ranked after Officer Kamala Vardhana Rao, remains a Principal Secretary due to a career impacted by disciplinary actions. The government has shown little interest in assigning him major roles, leaving him in charge of only the Parliamentary Affairs Department.
Dr. A. Jayathilak (1991-batch IAS officer), the Finance Additional Chief Secretary, is next in seniority. Typically, finance secretaries are not given additional responsibilities, but due to the staff shortage, Dr. Jayathilak has also been entrusted with the Tax Department. This department, consisting of 10 sections, is one of the largest wings in the Secretariat.
The consequences of this shortage are visible in the growing backlog of files. In the Finance Department alone, 26,257 files remain pending, while unresolved files across the Secretariat have exceeded three lakh. Officials attribute these delays to department secretaries juggling multiple portfolios, hindering timely decision-making.
Mr. K. R. Jyothilal (1993-batch IAS officer), a trusted government officer, currently oversees four key departments: Public Administration, Forest, Power, and Transport. Mr. A. Koushigan (2010-batch IAS officer), who previously managed five departments simultaneously, raised concerns about the lack of time to process files. Following his complaint, the Animal Husbandry Department was excluded from his responsibilities. Mr. Puneet Kumar (1993-batch IAS officer) manages four departments, while Mr. Biju Prabhakar (2004-batch IAS officer) and Mr. Tinku Biswal (1997-batch IAS officer) each handle three.
