'Corrupt' Bihar officer's house to become school

In a novel move to discourage corruption, the house of the suspended IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, which was confiscated by the state government on Sunday, will be converted into a school. Anil Kumar reports.

In a novel move to discourage corruption, the house of the suspended IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, which was confiscated by the state government on Sunday, will be converted into a school.

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The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to hand over the three-storeyed building of SS Verma, a 1981-batch officer suspended four years ago, to the state human resources development (HRD) department.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has been saying at public meetings that the ill-gotten property of corrupt officials will be confiscated and turned into schools for poor children. Verma’s will become the first such property to undergo this transformation.

“The cabinet has approved the free-of-cost and permanent transfer of the said property to the HRD department for relocating any nearby school that has no building of its own,” said Ravikant, principal secretary, cabinet co-ordination department.

Verma was suspended after vigilance sleuths raided his residence and unearthed huge unaccounted assets in 2007. He was commissioner-cum-secretary of the minor irrigation department. His house was confiscated by the Patna district administration after he failed to get relief from the court.

In an order passed on August 20, the Patna high court rejected Verma’s petition challenging the vigilance court's order to confiscate his Rukanpura property. The high court upheld the special vigilance court’s order to confiscate the disproportionate assets of Verma, valued at Rs 1.43 crore.