New Delhi, March 17 -- The country faces nearly 19% shortage of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, with at least 1,300 of the 6,877 sanctioned positions remaining vacant, a parliamentary panel said on Monday, warning that the shortage might adversely affect administrative capacity at the Centre and in states. The parliamentary standing committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice - headed by BJP MP Brij Lal - urged the department of personnel and training (DoPT) to immediately fill vacancies in cadres such as AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories), which has over 25% vacancies, and in states like Nagaland, where the shortage is 43.62%. The panel's 160th report on Demands for Grants (2026-27) pertaining to DoPT, tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, points to over 30% shortage of IAS officers of different ranks in states like Kerala (32.03%), Manipur (30.43%) and Nagaland (43.62%). The AGMUT cadre, which has officers across different states and UTs, has a shortage of 25.09%. The panel suggested said that a special strategy is needed for the northeastern states and smaller cadres where the shortage is disproportionately high....