Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Expressing his concern over the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Intermediate toppers being unable to answer basic questions related to their streams, CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday said his government would take tough action against the guilty. He also said that criminal cases would be lodged against those involved.

“Action would be taken against them in such a stringent manner that no one would dare to repeat such an act. Besides the departmental actions, the matter will also be investigated with criminal angle. Criminal cases will also be lodged against the persons found guilty in the investigation,” Nitish told reporters soon after launching his party’s membership campaign at the JD(U) headquarters here.

Appreciating the education department’s initiatives in checking use of unfair means in the Bihar Board examinations, the CM said, “The education department has taken action at its own level in the toppers issue, while the state government is also serious. It is good that this issue came to light, as I am sure that tough action will be taken in such a manner that such issue is not repeated again in future.”

Recalling a previous case, the CM said, “A similar case had come to light a few years ago and we had ordered to re-examine answer-sheets of top 10 students in the merit list.”

Nitish said everyone was aware that the Bihar Board examinations this year were conducted in a fair manner as the government was committed to improve its education system. “We took tough actions to check use of unfair means in examinations. We will also take tough actions in the Intermediate toppers case,” CM said.

In the meantime, state’s education department on Sunday constituted a three-member high-level committee to probe into “irregularities in Intermediate (Arts and Science-2016) examinations. The committee will be headed by Sanjeevan Sinha, managing director, Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation (BSEIDC), while Rajiv Prasad Singh Ranjan (director, secondary education) and Vinodanand Jha (director, Mass education) will be other members of the committee.

The committee has been asked to submit its report by June 20 after probing into all aspects of the irregularities in the intermediate examination-2016, an education official told TOI.

Earlier on Saturday, the BSEB cancelled the results of two toppers, including Sourabh Shrestha of the Intermediate (Science) examinations, after they failed to prove their merits in a re-test.

The BSEB had on Friday asked Sourabh and his college mate Rahul Kumar (both students of Bishun Roy College, Vaishali), who were among the 13 toppers from the arts and science streams in the Inter examinations to reappear in a re-test following a controversy over their merits.

Saurabh Shrestha from the Science stream, who had secured 485 out of 500, was caught on camera failing to answer basic questions. Ruby Rai, the arts topper, from the same college failed to take the re-test on Friday citing health reasons. Rai has obtained 444 marks out of 500 in the arts stream. However, on camera she pronounced political science as ‘prodigal science’ and said it was subject of cooking.

