Union MoS for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh made a rather unusual statement in Parliament on July 19. He said in a written reply that though the CBI suffered a shortage of 20 percent in staff strength, its performance was not impacted. Really? Has he ordered a performance audit of the agency? Since the performance of CBI hasn't suffered, he said "no" to a question asking whether the government is considering recruitement of officers (in the same proportion) at group 'A' level in the agency through UPSC civil services examination. And, then, in a typical official style, the minister commented that "Filling up of vacant posts in terms of relevant recruitment rules is an ongoing process. The number varies from time to time depending on the induction, promotion, retirement, and repatriation. "Induction of officers on direct recruitment and deputation basis from central government departments, various state governments, CPOs etc depends on the availability of eligible candidates," he said. The data presented by him showed there are 5,868 officers in the Bureau against the sanctioned strength of 7,273. "With effective use and optimal deployment of existing personnel, the vacancies have not affected the performance of the CBI adversely," he said. The data shows that there is about 18 per cent shortage in executive ranks, about 27 per cent shortage of law officers, about 56 per cent shortage of technical officers, about 18 per cent in ministerial staff and 44 per cent shortage in canteen posts.