Patna, April 22: Bihar could get more Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in the coming days as the Centre is likely to bring about changes in the existing system of cadre allotment.

The Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions has sought the list of IAS vacancies in states and Union territories to discuss the issue at a meeting of secretaries of personnel departments of various statesscheduled in New Delhi on Friday (April 22).

A senior Bihar-cadre IAS officer, currently serving with a central government organisation, said the Centre would introduce the new system after consulting the secretaries at the meeting.

The Centre is of the view that states where shortage of IAS officer is the highest would be given preference and provided more officers.

The existing system, which stipulates allotment of cadres to new recruits on the basis of "group of states", would be altered, he said.

Sources in the department of personnel and training said groups comprising three or four states have been created for smooth allotment of state cadres.

Choices and preferences of the states are sought from the aspirants and cadres allotted to them depending on the number of vacancies in the states they wish to serve.

The Bihar cadre bureaucrat, who didn't wish to be named, said that if things move on expected lines, the new system would be in place with effect from the 2015 batch itself.

The process of allotment of cadre for the 150 newly recruited IAS officers (2015 batch) would be complete by end of December, he said.

Bihar ranked third after Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in the highest number of IAS officer vacancies.

Bihar requires 112 more IAS officers to match the state's sanctioned strength. Bengal requires 150 more officers followed by Uttar Pradesh at 115. Neighbouring Jharkhand has only 95 vacancies.

The shortage of IAS officers in Bihar would deepen further as six senior IAS officers - Afzal Amanullah (1979 batch), Anand Vardhan (1978 batch), Amita Paul (1980 batch), Vijoy Prakash (1981 batch), Vyas Ji (1982 batch) and Sudhir Kumar Rakesh (1983-batch) - are set to retire this year.

Rakesh has opted for voluntary retirement.

Except for Amanullah, who is now on central deputation and serving as Union secretary, parliamentary affairs ministry, all the other IAS officers likely to retire this year are posted in the state. Many of them are holding additional charge of other departments as well.

Vyas Ji is posted as principal secretary of revenue and land reforms department but also holds additional charge as director of disaster management.

Similarly, Vijoy Prakash, agriculture production commissioner, holds additional charge as principal secretary of vigilance department.

A principal secretary-rank officer said the shortage of IAS officers has adversely hit execution of development schemes in the state.

"Our responsibilities have also increased manifold in the wake of chief minister Nitish Kumar's ' saat nishchay' (seven resolves), which have to be met within a stipulated timeframe," the senior officer told The Telegraph.

A total of 42 Bihar-cadre officers, including seven in chief secretary rank, eight in additional secretary and a dozen in joint secretary rank, were on central deputation.

Five officers were also serving in different states on inter-state deputation.

The state has a sanctioned strength of 326 IAS officers. Majority of the bureaucrats said that the new system would ease the pressure on the serving officers.