BiharTimes story on Gopalganj DM evokes CM’s response

16/03/2011

Patna,(BiharTimes): Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday denied that his government has anything to do with the posting of Pankaj Kumar Pal, a Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS officer, in Bihar. Pal is at present the district magistrate of Gopalganj and was in the news after BiharTimes, quoting reports from Imphal, carried a story of his alleged involvement in the murder of the SDO and two other employees.

Soon after the story was carried on Monday the district magistrate denied that he was accused in the case and said that insurgents and vested interest in Manipur falsely tried to implicate him in a murder case when he was posted as Deputy Commissioner in Ukhrul.

However, on Tuesday the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, quoting the BiharTimes report, raised the issue in the state Assembly. He once again alleged that officers from ouside the state have been brought to Bihar and given plum postings.

It needs to be recalled that during his speech on Governor’s address last month he had levelled serious charges and alleged that royal blood officers are being given important postings in Bihar while many honest and upright officers are being ignored. By royal blood he obviously meant officers belonging to chief minister’s caste.
On Wednesday morning almost all the newspapers of Bihar carried the story compelling chief minister Nitish Kumar to clarify the matter. He passed the buck to the Centre by stating that All India Service officers are posted at the behest of the Centre and not the state government. He said that Pal’s case was quite different as he does not even belong to Bihar. His case is not that of normal deputation of officers to the home state, so there is no question of importing officers from other states.
He said that the state government accepted him as it is short of IAS officers. Those raising allegations against the state government should rather go and ask the Centre rather than thoughtlessly speak on the issue.
Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, said that the opposition is trying to demoralize the government by raising the issue of officers from outside.