Amit Khare

Amit Khare (born 1961) is an Indian Administrative Service officer (1985 batch) from Bihar/Jharkhand cadre and is currently serving as the Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development.[1] He is noted for his role in bringing to light the Fodder scam, in which Rs. 940 crores were embezzled in Bihar over many years, and successive chief ministers Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Yadav have been imprisoned.[2]

Early life

He completed his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hinoo in 1977 and then finished his Bachelor's with Honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He has an elder brother Atul Khare, who is an Indian Foreign Service officer.[3]

Career

In late 1995, Bihar was in a financial crunch. The then charismatic yet 'native' leader Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Chief Minister of undivided Bihar, where the then finance commissioner VS Dubey stumbled upon the financial irregularities of massive scale.[4] In December 1995, Dubey was, as part of his job, reviewing the performance of various departments. He found that money was withdrawn in excess of the allocation by some of the department.[5][6] Khare, who was then District Magistrate at Chaibasa, noted that the district animal husbandry department had withdrawn Rs 10 crore and Rs 9 crore twice without giving any details. Even when questioned, there was no response from the animal husbandry department. Finally, in January 1996,Khare visited the office to investigate, and found it looking as if "someone had tried to destroy files in a hurry".[6] Many bogus bills were for amounts just under Rs. 10 lakhs (when there are more stringent authorization norms). It seemed that such payments had been going on for years. The next day, simultaneous raids conducted at Ranchi and elsewhere found similar practices.[7] This was the first evidence of the scam, which gathered momentum after regional CBI director U. N. Biswas defied political pressures to pursue the case up to the chief minister level. Those convicted include the preceding DM of Chaibasa, IAS officer Sajal Chakraborty.[8]

Khare has interests in Education and has served the State Elementary education secretary for several terms, and has also worked at the Ministry of Human Resource Development at the center. He has also served as principal secretary to Jharkhand governor Ved Marwah,[9] and as Collector and DM, Patna.[6]

He is presently serving as Secretary in the ministry of Information and Broadcasting. [10] On 14 December 2019, Mr. Khare assumed charge as Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development (Higher Education) with additional charge of School Education in background of ongoing negotiations with JNU students regarding fee hike and campus lockdown.

References
  1. "IAS officer who busted scam elated, former cop silent - Indian Express". www.indianexpress.com. 1 October 2013.
  2. Irfan, Hakeem (1 October 2013). "'dna' exclusive: Meet the IAS officer who unearthed the Rs950-cr fodder scam | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  3. Channdosree (9 January 2020). "Khare, fodder scam's last straw School proud of alumnus who took on Lalu & Co". The Telegraph.
  4. "Fodder scam under Lalu Prasad Yadav: When cattle rode scooter, oil purchased to polish buffalo horns". Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  5. Desk, The Hindu Net (8 May 2017). "The fodder scam: a recap". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  6. Mukull, Akshaya (1 October 2013). "IAS officer who stumbled upon fodder scam in 1996". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  7. Makkar, Sahil (4 October 2013). "Amit Khare unearthed the fodder scam" – via Business Standard.
  8. Raj Kumar (26 July 2008). "4-year jail for IAS officer". The Telegraph.
  9. "Jharkhand at a Glance". www.telegraphindia.com. 18 February 2004. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.
  10. Deogharial, Jaideep (2 April 2015). "Khare couple return home in rejig". Times of India.
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