According to persons familiar with the situation, controversial IAS officer KK Pathak has willingly resigned from his position as the education department’s additional chief secretary (ACS) in Bihar.
A January 9 letter to the chief secretary and others from the director of administration (education department) to this effect has been making the rounds on social media.
According to a senior source, the ACS asked for vacation for the first time on January 8 but abruptly gave up control of the education department on January 9. The General Administration Department (GAD) announced that day that special secretary (education) Baidyanath Yadav will take over as head of the department until further directives.
After taking over as the department’s ACS in June 2023, Pathak’s management style infuriated a number of people, including the governor, the minister of education, and a few lawmakers.
Days before provisional appointment letters to around one lakh teachers appointed by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) are sent, Pathak takes action.
Pathak had requested earned leave, and there is a clause allowing for charge relinquishment during the leave period, according to Chief Secretary Amir Subhani, who met with all district magistrates on Thursday to discuss the arrangements for distributing interim appointment letters to teachers. He didn’t go into great detail about Pathak’s potential replacement as an officer or the reasons behind his abrupt resignation.
During the distribution of temporary appointment letters last time, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar commended Pathak for his efforts to enhance the attendance of teachers and students.
Pathak, an IAS officer from the 1990 batch who is renowned for his no-nonsense approach, has made this offer to leave the department before. He had previously served in this capacity in April 2016 as the Department of Prohibition, excise, and Registration’s principal secretary before being eventually replaced. Later, he continued on central deputation, and upon his return to the state, he was placed once more in the Department of Prohibition, excise, and registration.
In 2010, Pathak was removed from the then Human Resource Development department (now the education department) to end the deadlock between the government and the Raj Bhavan over the appointment of vice-chancellors of Magadh University (Bodh Gaya) and Veer Kuer Singh University (Ara). The government also revoked the majority of the directives that Pathak’s department had issued during his tenure.
Recently, the state government of Bihar received a letter from incumbent governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who also serves as chancellor of state universities, requesting immediate corrective action because the department of education “seems bent upon destroying the academic environment in the state through its actions.” The governor mentioned the earlier meeting of a delegation of 25 members of the Bihar Legislative Council cutting across party lines with him.
With a copy of the joint memorandum of the MLCs, Robert L. Chongthu, principal secretary to the governor, wrote to Aamir Subhanib, the chief secretary of Bihar. A group of vice chancellors met with the governor on Tuesday and said that the education department was interfering unnecessarily in the business of the public universities.
Prior to that, Pathak had upset the Governor by announcing the appointment of VCs separately from the Raj Bhavan. Later, with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s involvement, that too had to be dropped. Prior to it, news was made of his correspondence fight with the office of the education minister, and the issue was brought up before the CM once more, but without success. The situation had become so bad that education was absent from work for about a month.
During the first phase of teacher recruitment, Pathak and BPSC also got into a letter war over the problem of document verification, and the CM had to step in once more to diffuse the situation.
Officials assert that the scheduling of the schools was the cause of the most recent outburst, nevertheless. The administration desired a relaxation in response to demands made by political leaders and teachers, but the timing remained the same.
