Speculations are rife that additional chief secretary Education Department in Bihar Dr. S. Siddharth has sought voluntary retirement four months ahead of his scheduled retirement in November this year.
It is reported that he has submitted his VRS application to the state government. A native of Tamil Nadu, it is speculated that Siddharth may contest elections from Nawada. In last one month, he had visited Nawada twice interacted with locals and prepared tea and litti chokha for locals.
An officer of 1991 batch, Siddharth is considered close to chief minister Nitish Kumar. Apart from being an able administrator, he is also a trained pilot, wildlife photographer, painter and cartoonist.
Known for his simplicity, Siddharth has taken several initiatives to improve standard of education in Bihar.
When S. Siddharth took over the responsibility of the education department, he had changed many decisions of the then additional chief secretary KK Pathak, who is now on central deputation.
Siddharth, in an order on June 12, 2024 directed that students should not be directly cancelled if they were not present in schools.
In some of his other decisions, he handed over the responsibility of inspection of schools to district-level DDC officers. He had handed over the right to decide the school timing to the District Education Officer (DEO).
If the news of voluntary retirement is true then Dr. Siddharth will be the second senior IAS officer to take VRS this month. Earlier, Dinesh Kumar Rai, secretary revenue and land reforms, had also resigned.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
