Bihar has a severe shortage of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officials. As a result, one officer was given charge of many departments. Bihar has 359 sanctioned IAS officer jobs, of which 71 are vacant, leaving the state with only 288 officers. Thirty-three officers are currently on central deputation.
According to General Administration Department statistics, five of the state’s 12 officers at the rank of Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary hold more than two departments. Even at the national level, however, there remains a shortage of IAS officers. At the national level, 6746 IAS officer positions have been sanctioned, although only 5317 are now in service.
There are 78 IAS officers on central deputation out of the total 359 sanctioned vacancies for the Bihar cadre. Six of these positions are for training. There are 48 positions for state deputation, 32 for junior level, and 109 for promotion quota.
Currently, 12 of the 288 officers serving in Bihar are Chief Secretaries, 12 are Principal Secretaries, 33 are Secretaries, and one is a Special Secretary. There are 151 IAS officers in the Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary levels, as well as 31 at the junior level. Simultaneously, 33 officers of various levels are on central deputation.
