Bihar's Education Department bans entry of minister's secretary to its offices amid spat

Patna: Bihar's Education Department has banned the entry of its minister Chandra Shekhar's personal secretary Krishna Nand Yadav to its offices, escalating the brawl over "negative news" in the press about its functioning.

Yadav had written a letter to Additional Chief Secretary (Education) KK Pathak on July 1, stating that the minister was angry over "lots of negative news" related to the department in the press.

"Even official letters or departmental communications are being leaked to the media before they reach the Minister's Cell. This is against the rules about public servants' functioning. The department must identify such officials and take appropriate disciplinary actions. Lots of negative news in the press have angered the minister, and he now wants 'Robinhoods' and 'actors' among officers to be punished," Yadav had stated in the letter.

Hitting back, Director Administration in the department Subodh Kumar Chaudhary wrote to Yadav on Wednesday, stating that the letter was "useless" and that he was not entitled to communicate directly with government officials.

"You sent several letters to officials of the department in the last one week. You have already been told in the past that you are not entitled to communicate directly with government officials. By writing such useless letters you are wasting the time of government officials," Chaudhary said.

"It appears that you have no work in the Minister's Cell. The department has also come to know that earlier you had filed a case against it. You don't even deserve to work in the Minister's Cell. The department has already written a letter to the competent authority for your removal," he said.

Chaudhary also said that Yadav should furnish documents supporting the use of 'Dr' before his name.

Chandra Shekhar, an RJD MLA, could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

RJD MLA Bhai Birendra urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to remove Pathak as the Education Secretary, alleging that his recent actions were against the interests of the Mahagathbandhan government.

JD(U) minister Shrawan Kumar, however, called Pathak an upright officer.

Disagreeing with Kumar, his party colleague Ratnesh Sada, the ST-SC minister, called Pathak "anti-Dalit".

Pathak, a 1990 batch IAS officer who was instrumental in framing the prohibition laws in 2016, is considered close to the chief minister.