• Source:JND
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KK Pathak, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Bihar Education Department, is grabbing headlines all over again after some of his decisions have incited debate and have led to controversies in the state. The senior educational officer is also facing a lot of criticism and opposition from his own department but is also credited with working to improve the quality of school education in the state by many. 

Keshav Kumar Pathak, a 1990 batch IAS officer, in a peculiar decision recently banned staff from wearing jeans and t-shirts, and prohibited coaching classes from operating during school hours. Due to such decisions, Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar sent him a yellow letter, accusing him of overstepping his authority and creating confusion in the department. 

The matter between the bureaucrat and minister escalated after which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met both of them to resolve the issue. However, CM Nitish Kumar has praised Pathak several times for his recent development in the state education department. 

Meanwhile, this is not the first time that KK Pathak has been involved in controversies. He has a reputation for being an officer who makes bold and swift decisions but also gets into conflicts with ministers and politicians. He has been surrounded by controversies since assuming office.  

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He is said to have troubled former Bihar CM Lalu Yadav in the past and also sent a defamation notice to former Deputy CM Sushil Modi in 2016. He came into the limelight in 1996 when he invited a sanitation worker to inaugurate a hospital built with MPLADS funds. He has also served in Delhi on Central Deputation twice and returned to Bihar in 2021.

Pathak was given the responsibility of implementing liquor prohibition in the state by Nitish Kumar in 2015, but he left for Delhi again in 2017. He has also faced legal troubles, as the Patna High Court fined him Rs 1.75 lakh in 2018 for being arbitrary in a case of late deposit of stamp duty. 

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He has also been accused of not appearing in court and using abusive language to his colleague in a meeting. However, he is also credited with working to improve the quality of school education in the state. The dispute between him and his minister has also drawn the attention of the RJD and JDU leaders, who have expressed their views on the matter.