Pathak relinquishes edu dept charge after brief eventful tenure

Controversial IAS officer KK Pathak has voluntarily relinquished charge as the additional chief secretary (ACS) of Bihar’s education department, people familiar with the matter said.

A letter to this effect, dated January 9, sent by director, administration (education department) to chief secretary and others, has been circulating on the social media.

A senior official said the ACS had first applied for leave on January 8, but suddenly relinquished the charge of the education department on January 9. The same day, the general administration department (GAD) issued notification handing over charge of the department to special secretary (education) Baidyanath Yadav till further orders.

Pathak had taken over as ACS of the education department in June 2023, but his style of functioning ruffled many, including the Governor, the education minister and some legislators.

Pathak’s move comes days before the distribution of provisional appointment letters to an estimated one lakh teachers appointed by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

Chief Secretary Amir Subhani, who reviewed the preparations for distribution of provisional appointment letters to teachers with all the district magistrates on Thursday, said Pathak had applied for earned leave and there is a provision of relinquishing charge for the leave period. He did not elaborate if Pathak would be replaced by any other officer or what could be the reasons behind sudden relinquishing of charge.

During the distribution of provisional appointment letters last time, chief minister Nitish Kumar had praised Pathak for his efforts to improve attendance of teachers and students.

This is not the first time that Pathak, a 1990-batch IAS officer known for his no-nonsense style, has offered to leave the department. He had done so in April 2016 also as the principal secretary of the department of prohibition, excise and registration and eventually he was replaced. Later, he proceeded on central deputation and was again put in the department of prohibition, excise and registration upon his return to the state.

In 2010 also, Pathak was removed from the then Human Resource development department (now education department) to end the standoff between the government and the Raj Bhavan over appointment of vice chancellors in Magadh University (Bodh Gaya) and Veer Kuer Singh University (Ara). The government also withdrew most of the orders issued during Pathak’s tenure in the higher education department.

The incumbent Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who is also the Chancellor of state universities, had also written recently to the Bihar government to take corrective measures immediately, as the “education department through its actions seems to be bent upon destroying the academic environment in the state”. The governor cited the earlier meeting of a delegation of 25 members of the Bihar Legislative Council cutting across party lines with him.

Robert L Chongthu, principal secretary to the Governor, had written to Bihar Chief Secretary Aamir Subhanib with a copy of the joint memorandum of the MLCs. On Tuesday, a delegation of vice chancellors also met the Governor alleging unwanted interference of the education department in the domain of the state universities.

Before that Pathak had ruffled the Governor by issuing separate advertisements for the appointment of VCs after the Raj Bhavan had done so. Later, that also had to be withdrawn after the intervention of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Before that his letter war with the education minister’s office also made headlines and the matter again landed up before the CM, but to no avail. The matter had aggravated so much that education did not attend office for nearly a month.

Pathak was also engaged in a letter war with BPSC during the first phase teachers’ recruitment over the issue of document verification and the CM again had to intervene to defuse the crisis.

However, according to officials, the latest flare-up was caused over the timing of schools. The government wanted relaxation following demands from teachers as well political leaders, but the timing was not changed.