Rejecting the demand for a CBI probe into the paper leak scam in Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC), Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asserted in the State Assembly that nobody was above law and police enquiry into the case will neither implicate nor let go anybody.
Replying to a debate on the motion of thanks on the address by the Governor, Nitish referred to the agitating mood of the IAS officers following the arrest of senior IAS officer and chairman of BSSC Sudhir Kumar and said the probe agency is always police and not the civil servants under the IPC and CrPC. “Even CBI consists of police. During the investigation no authority whether executive or judiciary has right to interfere,” he said.
The CM said he was waiting for the memorandum of the Bihar IAS Officers’ Association which he was yet to receive either directly or from Raj Bhavan. “Once I get the memorandum I will study its each word and get them examined and whatever results will come out will become milestone in governance,” he said in a stern voice.
The Opposition BJP too had demanded CBI enquiry into this episode. Even though the Opposition staged walkout the CM challenged them, “let they bring a private bill making amendments in the Constitution to give police power to them (BJP) in the IPC and Cr PC and I will forward it to the Centre without any hesitation.” He said nobody should make joke of the jurisprudence.
Nitish also referred to some cases in Bihar which had been handed over to the CBI but nothing concrete came out apart from the police probe results. “It has become nowadays a fashion to demand for CBI probe,” he added.
Incidentally, top leaders of RJD, including lalu Prasad and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi had earlier stated that arrested IAS officer Sudhir Kuamr was very honest and unlikely to do anything wrong. Nitish said it was immaterial who was giving certificate to whom but the investigation would not be affected anyway and expressed confidence that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) would work without any fear or bias.
The CM also talked about the scams in the intermediate exam body in which husband of former JD(U) MlA was arrested and illegal appointments in Bihar Agriculture University in which JD(U) MlA has been named and arrested and police investigation was going on.
“No action is taken by our government by seeing the face but on the merit of the case. I am here not just to sit on the CM’s chair but to act and we act without any bias whether it is politician or bureaucrat. The cases against them are not on mere perception but the evidence,” said Nitish.