Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary.
Credit: PTI Photo
Patna: The Education Department in Bihar has withheld the appointment of senior minister Ashok Choudhary as assistant professor following certain discrepancies in his educational papers.
It has sent his file to the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) with a request to “reinvestigate certain discrepancies in the relevant file.”
The 56-year-old minister was one of the 274 candidates shortlisted last year for the appointment as assistant professor in political science.
“After receiving the list of successful candidates, we held the review meeting. Ashok Choudhary’s matter has been referred to the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) to give its opinion after inquiry as there were certain discrepancies in his papers,” said Bihar Education Minister Sunil Kumar.
Incidentally, Ashok Choudhary was Bihar’s Education Minister from 2015 to 2017.
In 2024, he was shortlisted as assistant professor, for which vacancies were announced in 2020.
Though Kumar did not elaborate about the discrepancy in Choudhary’s case, sources in his department said two different names were used by Choudhary in the papers submitted.
“While he wrote Ashok Kumar in his educational qualification papers, his election affidavit said Ashok Choudhary,” the source said.
“After finding the differences, the matter has been referred to the BSUSC for its opinion,” said the source.
Choudhary’s appointment as Assistant Professor was mired into a row with the Opposition questioning Nitish Kumar regime over appointing his minister, in his mid-50s, as a university professor at a time when the young unemployed were seeking jobs as Assistant Professors.
Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari had questioned Choudhary’s doctorate degree and requested the government to verify it properly without being under pressure.
Former deputy chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav had questioned Choudhary’s appointment.
“When did he appear for the examination? Did anyone see him appearing for the exam?,” Tejashwi questioned.
Choudhary is the son of former Congress minister Mahavir Choudhary, was the president of the Bihar Congress before switching over to the JD (U) in 2018.
He insisted that he had completed his Masters’ degree from Patna University in 1991 and was awarded a PhD from Magadh University in Bodh Gaya in 2005.