Atono Tsükrü Kense
Kohima | July 28
As the Nagaland Government initiates a high-level manpower audit to streamline staffing across all departments, a recent Right to Information (RTI) response has laid bare the persistent administrative challenges that underscore the urgency of this exercise.
While the state has constituted a ‘Working Group on Comprehensive Manpower Rationalisation’ with a strict three-month deadline to review sanctioned posts, identify redundancies and assess the impact of technology on staffing, the RTI data reveals a system straining under unresolved cadre reviews, widespread reliance on additional charges, and uneven distribution of officers, particularly within the civil and police services.
The findings come as the government imposes interim restrictions on new recruitments, highlighting a critical push to balance administrative efficiency with fiscal consolidation against a backdrop of delayed cadre revisions and the creation of multiple new districts in recent years.
40 NCS officers hold additional charge
The Nagaland government continues to depend on significant number of officers to manage multiple administrative responsibilities as the cadre review process constituted in 2021 is still underway.
An RTI response from the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (P&AR) has revealed that 40 Nagaland Civil Service (NCS) officers are currently holding ‘additional charge’ while the cadre review is yet to be completed despite creation of several new districts in the recent years.
The reply, issued on July 15 in response to an RTI application, provides an overview of the present strength of the NCS cadre, staffing position across districts, vacancies and the status of cadre review.
According to the department, Nagaland currently has a sanctioned strength of 308 NCS posts, of which 296 are filled, leaving 12 vacancies, including posts that have already been requisitioned.
The department, however, stated that it has no records available on the sanctioned strength of the NCS at the time of Nagaland’s statehood in 1963.
It also pointed out that no cadre strength revision was carried out in line with the creation of new districts in 1973, 1997, 2003, 2022 and 2024.
District-wise deployment
The RTI reply shows considerable variation in the distribution of NCS officers across districts.
Among the districts, Mon has the highest number of NCS officers with 19, followed by Zunheboto (18), Phek (16), and Kohima and Mokokchung with 14 each. Wokha has 13 officers, while Kiphire and Peren have 11 each. Chümoukedima and Tuensang have 10 officers each, Longleng has nine, Niuland and Shamator have eight each, Noklak has seven, Dimapur has six, and Meluri and Tseminyu have five officers each.
Additional charge & transfers
The department disclosed that 40 NCS officers are presently holding additional charge of more than one sub-division or posting simultaneously.
It further clarified that there is no prescribed duration for holding additional charge, stating that such arrangements are made based on administrative convenience.
The RTI reply also revealed that 74 officers were transferred and posted through notifications issued on March 31, 2026.
Of these, 15 officers were posted to the six newest districts viz. Noklak, Chümoukedima, Niuland, Tseminyu, Shamator and Meluri. However, only six of those postings were against previously vacant regular positions, indicating that many postings were adjustments rather than appointments to vacant sanctioned posts.
Previous cadre reviews
As per the available records, the government said cadre reviews were undertaken through notifications and official communications issued in 2006, 2010, 2016 and 2018. The latest cadre review, constituted in 2021, has yet to be completed.
The RTI response also noted that the minimum NCS complement for each district is governed by government notifications issued in 2004 and 2022, copies of which were enclosed with the reply.
Overall, the RTI response highlights the continuing gap between sanctioned and actual staffing, the widespread reliance on additional charge arrangements, and the prolonged delay in finalising the cadre review, despite the creation of several new districts over the years.
Posted strength of NPS Cadre
Meanwhile, the RTI response offers a snapshot of the current deployment of NPS cadre officers across Nagaland and provides insight into how senior police personnel are distributed among operational, administrative and training establishments throughout the State.
The Nagaland Police Headquarters (PHQ), along with its specialised wings, has the highest concentration of Nagaland Police Service (NPS) officers in the State, according to an official document obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The document provides a detailed breakdown of the posted strength of NPS cadre officers across police units, district establishments and Nagaland Armed Police (NAP) battalions.
The posted strength of the NPS cadre stands at 241 officers, comprising 44 officers in the ranks of AIG, Commandant, SP, Principal and Joint Director, and DCP, 59 officers in the Deputy Commandant, Deputy SP, Additional SP and ADCP category, and 138 officers serving as Assistant Commandant, Deputy SP, SDPO and ACP.
Among all establishments, Police Headquarters (PHQ), including Crime, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and Border units, has the largest deployment with 16 officers. The Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) follows with 13 officers, while Commissioner of Police, Dimapur has a sanctioned posted strength of 10 officers.
Across district police establishments, Kohima has the highest posted strength with seven officers, followed by Mokokchung, Zunheboto and Wokha, each with five officers. Mon, Peren and Phek have four officers each, while Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng and Tseminyu have three officers each. Noklak and Meluri have two officers each, while Shamator has the lowest deployment with one officer.
The RTI document also highlights the distribution of officers across the Nagaland Armed Police battalions. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 11th and 14th NAP battalions each have 10 posted officers, the highest among the battalions. The remaining battalions have between eight and nine officers.
Other specialised institutions include the Police Training School (PTS) with two officers, the Nagaland Police Training Centre (NAPTC) with four officers, the Counter Insurgency and Anti-Terrorist School (CIATS) with two officers, and the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Prosecution) with six officers.
The document notes that the figures exclude officers serving on deputation, including the Commandant Rank officer serving as Commanding Officer to the Village Guards, the Superintendent of Police Rank officer posted as Chief Security Officer to the Civil Secretariat, and the Deputy Commandant Rank officer serving as ADC to the Governor.
This is the last of a two-part series.
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