New head for Bihar board amid row over mass cheating

PATNA: Patna divisional commissioner Anand Kishor took over as the chairman of the beleaguered Bihar school examination board (BSEB) on Thursday afternoon in the

PATNA: Patna divisional commissioner Anand Kishor took over as the chairman of the beleaguered Bihar school examination board (BSEB) on Thursday afternoon in the midst of a raging controversy regarding allegations of mass cheating in the board examinations.

HT Image

He replaced Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh who resigned as chairman after questions were raised about his role in the scam. He put in his papers after the government indicated he would be sacked.

This is the second additional charge for Kishor, who also holds the charge of IG (prisons).

Soon after joining, Kishor called a meeting of senior officials at the board office to discuss the situation.

The charge of the new secretary of BSEB was taken on Tuesday by Anup Kumar Sinha, who had earlier held the position from 2007 to 2011.

Talking about the changes, education minister Ashok Choudhary said an IAS officer had been given temporary charge of the board to cleanse the system.

“We want to usher in transparency in the functioning of the board and get it online to reduce human intervention. The objective is to model it on the lines of the CBSE and reduce chances of human error,” he said. “The state’s image took a beating due to a few sham institutions and unscrupulous officials,” he added.

Meanwhile, police have collected some vital evidence in the case. “We will soon expose the nexus that allowed the racket to flourish to benefit institutions such as VR College. The interrogation of superintendents of exam and evaluation centres has uncovered the racket as it is clear that answer books were changed,” said an officer.

VR college secretary Bachcha Rai is still absconding, while the four toppers are yet to appear before the police to present their side of the story.