Patna: Bihar is set to get at least 40 IAS officers, who will be promoted to the service under the state quota.

Senior state, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and department of personnel and training (DoPT) officials held a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday to finalise the list of the probable officers of the Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) who will be promoted.

The BAS officers will be promoted to IAS to fill the vacancies under the state quota for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

"The names of a few officers to fill the vacancies for 2016 have also been included. However, a final decision will be taken after consultation with UPSC officials," said a senior IAS officer.

Principal secretary, home, Amir Subhani, who is also holding additional charge of the general administration department, attended the meeting, but didn't respond to calls for comment.

The DoPT will notify the names of the BAS officers to be promoted. "It's a time consuming process. Once the list is approved by the UPSC against the vacancies under the state quota, it's just a formality to issue a notification by the DoPT," an IAS officer said.

The state is facing a shortfall of IAS officers. In May-June this year, the state government had requested the Centre to return secretary- and principal secretary-rank officers from Bihar on central deputation.

The sanctioned strength of IAS officers in the state is 340 but the actual availability is 190, including officers promoted from the BAS. In addition, 41 officers are on central deputation. In March this year, the Union minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions, had made a written submission in the Lok Sabha that Bihar had the highest number of vacancies of IAS officers among the states, 128 officers. Several principal secretary- and secretary-rank officers are holding additional charge of three to four departments. On Tuesday, the state released 2009-batch officer Manoj Kumar Singh for central deputation.