Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and IAS KK Pathak.
– Photo: Amar Ujala Digital
Expansion
Bihar’s Nitish Kumar government has finally turned its back on the highly controversial Indian Administrative Service officer KK Pathak. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar gave him permission to go on central deputation. KK Pathak had been a headache for the Nitish government of Bihar for about one and a quarter years, although Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had not shied away from openly appreciating his good efforts in private. Pathak, the most controversial minister of the previous Grand Alliance government, Prof. Had clashed with Chandrashekhar and then some time ago also with the then DM of Patna, Dr. Chandrashekhar. Before all this, the video of his abusive language in the government meeting had gone viral twice. Now these days he was in the headlines due to his direct disobedience towards Raj Bhavan and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
CM Nitish took it forward, the burden fell on him
If KK Pathak remained clean even after the video of Bihar Administrative Service officials abusing ‘Bihari’ went viral, it seemed that the Chief Minister had a direct hand on him. This hand was further confirmed when, before Pathak’s return from a long leave, a few days before the end of the Grand Alliance government, the Chief Minister, who was clashing with him, addressed the education minister of Rashtriya Janata Dal quota, Prof. Chandrashekhar was replaced. After this, Pathak, who proved capable of changing the minister’s position, took many such decisions which made the government uncomfortable.
He directed to cancel the District Magistrate’s order to close schools in extreme cold. This could not be done, but then the transfer order of Patna DM Dr. Chandrashekhar came, citing the law-granted powers of the District Magistrate, other than his instructions. This transfer may have been routine, but the message went as per KK Pathak. During this, Pathak was also seen directly confronting BPSC and Raj Bhavan. The crisis was directly caused by the disobedience of Nitish Kumar, after which it became easy for the government to take the decision of his central deputation.
CM was continuously being harassed in the assembly
When a question was raised during the budget session regarding the timetable of government schools, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said in the House that he has asked KK Pathak, Additional Chief Secretary of the Education Department for this. Along with this, he immediately called Pathak and asked why he did not make changes in the school timetable as per his instructions? Despite all this, the readers remained adamant on their point. Kept issuing letters of clarification, but did not work as per the assurance given by the CM in the House. What’s more, when an officer under him issued an order to improve the time table, he called it fake and got an explanation from the officer of the department. On Thursday, the opposition created a ruckus in the Assembly over those letters and RJD even termed it as the weakness of the Chief Minister and contempt of the House. Now by the evening it is being confirmed from the CM Secretariat itself that the Chief Minister has approved KK Pathak’s application for central deputation.