HRD official who unearthed fodder scam 'appreciates' verdict convicting Lalu, others

New Delhi: Amit Khare, a senior official  in the HRD Ministry who is credited with unearthing the multi-crore fodder scam during his tenure in Bihar, today “appreciated” the verdict of the special CBI court in Ranchi convicting 45 people, including Lalu Prasad.

Khare, a 1985 batch IAS officer, was West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner when he had unearthed the scam in January  1996 by conducting raids in offices of animal husbandry department, seizing documents showing syphoning of funds by non-existent companies in the name of supplying fodder.

“I performed my duties as a government servant just like any other officer would have done. I appreciate the  judgement after a long protracted legal battle,” he said.

Khare said that as a Collector of the district, it was his duty to look after the treasury and any anomalies and discrepancies in funds which needed to be investigated.

A St Stephens’ and IIM alumnus, he is is now Joint Secretary at HRD Ministry.  Life was, however, not a smooth sailing for the officer after the scam was unearthed. Khare was shunted to various departments, which included a posting as a Managing Director of the Bihar State Leather Corporation. He posed as prosecution many times till the year 2008 in the fodder scam case.

He is at present holding the charge of Joint Secretary, International Cooperation, Book Publishing and Copyrights and  Education Policy and Planning in the Development of Higher Education under MHRD.

“As a government servant you have to discharge your duties with complete dedication and I successfully attempted.  For a bureaucrat all types of postings were equally important,” said Khare, in the midst of a hectic schedule which included attending a workshop on the skilling initiatives in the country.

PTI