In the first ever administrative decision of the new Bihar Government, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday brought back Amir Subhani as Principal Home Secretary.
Subhani has served as Home Secretary for a long time and is known as a trusted bureaucrat of Nitish. First he had been removed by then CM Jitan Ram Manjhi but when Nitish came back he brought Subhani back to the sensitive post. In the last week of September, the Election Commission had removed him from the office and appointed Sudhir Kumar Rakesh as home secretary.
Subhani’s removal from the post was the main demand of the BJP which had petitioned the ECI to his immediate removal on the plea that he was holding this position for about five years. Subhani was serving s principal secretary of general administration department and cabinet coordination.
Besides holding the office of the home secretary, he will also remain secretary in general administration department while CM’s principal secretary D S Gangwar has been assigned additional charge of cabinet coordination.
Since the law and order is the top priority of the CM, it was very much expected that Subhani would be brought back in then home department. Nitish a couple of days back had held videoconferencing meeting with all the zonal Commissioners, Inspectors General of Police of all divisions besides DMs and SPs and told them firmly that maintaining law and order and curbing crime was their prime duty and that the top officials would be held responsible for any communal violence. The State has witnessed several incidents of communal nature although on local level in certain parts after the results of the Assembly election were declared.
Subhani, an IAS topper, had been made home secretary in 2010 after Afzal Amanullah, whom served in this office for about five years. He was the first Muslim officer to hold this post in Bihar.