<p>Patna: In January 1996, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, was politically at his peak, having won a landslide in the 1995 Assembly election.</p><p>But the regional chieftain had no inkling what future was in store and how he could be embroiled in one of the worst-ever scam and jailed after resigning as CM.</p>.Amit Khare gets extension as advisor to PM Modi.<p>On a chilly winter morning in January 1996, IAS officer Amit Khare, who was then the Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district of the undivided Bihar, went to the office of the Animal Husbandry Department and found several files were being destroyed. On thorough investigation, he found embezzlement of funds to the tune of crores in the name of forged bills and bogus payments in the Animal Husbandry Department, which had been going on for years.</p><p>Khare, a no-nonsense IAS officer of 1985 batch, raised the red flag and apprised the then Finance Commissioner of Bihar, VS Dubey, also an IAS officer of impeccable integrity, about the financial irregularities in the Animal Husbandry Department.</p>.<p>This fraudulent withdrawal and embezzlement of funds eventually came to be known as the 950-crore fodder scam in which two former Chief Ministers -- Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra --were put behind bars. Three senior IAS officers Sajal Chakravarty, Mahesh Prasad and Beck Julius, besides others, were also jailed.</p><p>The man, who unearthed the fodder scam, was on Sunday (September 14) appointed as the Secretary to the new Vice-President of India, CP RadhaKrishnan. </p><p>“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Amit Khare, 1985-batch, Jharkhand cadre, as the Secretary to the Vice-President of India,” said the notification issued by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training.</p><p>The notification also said that Khare’s appointment will be on contractual basis in the rank and pay scale of Secretary for a period of three years from the date of his joining.</p><p><strong>Academic background</strong></p><p>Khare, who is a graduate from Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College and has done his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad, earlier served as Education Secretary in the Union Government. He played a pivotal role in framing the New Education Policy (NEP). Prior to his appointment as Secretary to the Vice President, he was serving as Adviser to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) looking after matters related to the social sector.</p><p>Khare, who earlier also served as District Magistrate of Patna as well as Darbhanga in Bihar, before shifting to Jharkhand (when Bihar was bifurcated in November 2000), also served as Principal Secretary to the Jharkhand Governor Ved Marwah. He also had a stint as the Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University before shifting from Jharkhand to New Delhi on Central deputation. His wife Nidhi Khare is also an IAS officer of 1992 batch.</p>
<p>Patna: In January 1996, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, was politically at his peak, having won a landslide in the 1995 Assembly election.</p><p>But the regional chieftain had no inkling what future was in store and how he could be embroiled in one of the worst-ever scam and jailed after resigning as CM.</p>.Amit Khare gets extension as advisor to PM Modi.<p>On a chilly winter morning in January 1996, IAS officer Amit Khare, who was then the Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district of the undivided Bihar, went to the office of the Animal Husbandry Department and found several files were being destroyed. On thorough investigation, he found embezzlement of funds to the tune of crores in the name of forged bills and bogus payments in the Animal Husbandry Department, which had been going on for years.</p><p>Khare, a no-nonsense IAS officer of 1985 batch, raised the red flag and apprised the then Finance Commissioner of Bihar, VS Dubey, also an IAS officer of impeccable integrity, about the financial irregularities in the Animal Husbandry Department.</p>.<p>This fraudulent withdrawal and embezzlement of funds eventually came to be known as the 950-crore fodder scam in which two former Chief Ministers -- Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra --were put behind bars. Three senior IAS officers Sajal Chakravarty, Mahesh Prasad and Beck Julius, besides others, were also jailed.</p><p>The man, who unearthed the fodder scam, was on Sunday (September 14) appointed as the Secretary to the new Vice-President of India, CP RadhaKrishnan. </p><p>“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Amit Khare, 1985-batch, Jharkhand cadre, as the Secretary to the Vice-President of India,” said the notification issued by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training.</p><p>The notification also said that Khare’s appointment will be on contractual basis in the rank and pay scale of Secretary for a period of three years from the date of his joining.</p><p><strong>Academic background</strong></p><p>Khare, who is a graduate from Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College and has done his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad, earlier served as Education Secretary in the Union Government. He played a pivotal role in framing the New Education Policy (NEP). Prior to his appointment as Secretary to the Vice President, he was serving as Adviser to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) looking after matters related to the social sector.</p><p>Khare, who earlier also served as District Magistrate of Patna as well as Darbhanga in Bihar, before shifting to Jharkhand (when Bihar was bifurcated in November 2000), also served as Principal Secretary to the Jharkhand Governor Ved Marwah. He also had a stint as the Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University before shifting from Jharkhand to New Delhi on Central deputation. His wife Nidhi Khare is also an IAS officer of 1992 batch.</p>