Twenty-seven per cent of Army posts lying vacant

New Delhi, May 17: As many as 11,256 posts, amounting to 27 per cent of the Army's strength, in the rank of Lt Col and below, were vacant as on January 1 this year but there was no shortage in the ranks of Colonel and above, the government said today.

In the Defence Ministry itself, the backlog of vacancies stood at 3508.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the main reason for shortage in the Army was paucity of suitable candidates meeting the criteria for selection.

To tide over the crisis, Mr Mukherjee said, constant efforts were being made to make the Army an attractive career. Efforts included a sustained image projection campaign through print and electronic media, he pointed out.

The minister said a special recruitment drive was conducted to fill up the vacancies in the Defence Ministry. During the last two years, 2005 vacancies in the Department of Defence, 1133 in the Department of Defence Production and 183 in the DRDO were filled.

The number of vacancies as of date stood at 3508.

Replying to another query, he said during the last three years, 109 retired officers of the Armed Forces -- 14 Lt Generals, 24 Major Generals and 71 Brigadiers/ Colonels were allowed to accept commercial employment.

One retired Commodore of the Navy was permitted to join as a Senior Training Consultant with Singapore Technologies Education and Training.

UNI