Bihar Assembly passes two Bills

The Bihar Assembly on Thursday passed two bills seeking to appoint only an IAS officer as the chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board, and remove an anomaly in the rules of the Bihar Technical Service Commission. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Bill, 2019 and the Bihar Technical Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2019 were passed by voice vote.

As per the provisions of BSEB Act, 1952, academic persons could be appointed as the Board chairman, but now in view of the changed scenario, only an IAS officer will get that chair, Education Minister Krishnandan Prasad Verma said. He, however, did not explain what he meant by "the changed scenario".

As per the Bihar Technical Service Commission Act 2014, the administrative and financial powers were vested in the Commission's secretary but rules framed in 2015 empowered all administrative and financial powers to the Commission and its chairman, thus bringing anomalies in the Act and its Rule. Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the Bihar Technical Service Commission (Amendment) Bill seeks that the powers will be vested with the Commission and its chairman.

Opposition leaders Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Ramanuj Prasad of the RJD and Mahboob Alam of the CPI(ML) said the Bills have been brought in haste and hence will not serve their purpose. Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi tabled a copy of achievement report for 2018-19 as per the Bihar Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2006.

He also tabled copies of outcome budget 2019-20, gender budget 2019-20 and children welfare schemes' report 2019-20..