Amit Khare named I&B secretary in bureaucratic reshuffle

Senior bureaucrat Amit Khare, who blew the lid off the infamous fodder scam in Bihar, was on Friday appointed secretary to the information and broadcasting ministry as part of a major reshuffle involving 24 top IAS officers.

Anup Wadhawan and former Delhi chief secretary M M Kutty have been named new commerce and petroleum secretaries respectively. Rina Ray has been appointed secretary, the department of school education and literacy, an order issued by the personnel ministry said.

Khare, a 1985-batch IAS officer, is at present serving in his cadre state Jharkhand.

He had, in June 1996, reportedly exposed the multi-crore fodder scam, involving the then chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, when he was working as the Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand). Khare will take over the charge from incumbent N K Sinha who superannuates on May 31.

Fodder scam: Sentencing of RJD chief Lalu Yadav today

The Ranchi Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court will on Thursday pronounce the quantum of sentence against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and others in connection with fodder scam.

The court deferred the matter yesterday due to demise of advocate Vindeshwari Prasad.

The Court also found Lalu's son Tejasvi Yadav and other party leaders Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Manoj Jha guilty of contempt of court.

On December 23, the RJD chief, along with 14 others, was found guilty by the court, while seven accused, including former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, were acquitted.

Lalu has been convicted in one of the cases of the fodder scam, wherein Rs 900 crore from the Bihar exchequer was siphoned off under the pretext of purchasing fodder for livestock, during the '80s and '90s.
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