In a shocking incident, a senior IAS officer verbally abused officers of Bihar administrative services (BAS) at a meeting, infuriating groups of bureaucrats and civil society in the state.
A video of KK Pathak – who is serving as additional chief secretary (prohibition, excise and registration) in the Bihar government – hurling abuses at fellow officers has gone viral on social media.
The purported video shows Pathak cursing the people of Bihar, stating that they don’t know how to conduct themselves.
“People walk on the left side of the street in Chennai. Have you seen anyone walking on the left here? Have you ever seen someone honking at a red light in Chennai?” the officer can be heard saying in the viral video.
An angry Pathak continues, “Here (abusive words) will stop in the traffic and blow the horn. Haven’t you guys seen Bailey Road? (Profane words) will honk on the red light… What kind of people are they?”
At the end of the video, Pathak can be heard using profane words for a BAS officer posted as a deputy collector.
The video has met with a sharp response from the Bihar Administrative Service Association (BASA), which has filed a case against IAS officer Pathak at the secretariat police station in the capital Patna.
Speaking to media persons in Patna, BASA president Shashank Shekhar said, “KK Pathak has been accused of abusing officers of the Bihar Administrative Service and the people of Bihar. He used objectionable words during a departmental meeting.”
The meeting was held on Wednesday, February 1.
BASA general secretary Sunil Tiwari demanded that chief minister Nitish Kumar immediately dismiss the officer. “If action is not taken against KK Pathak, the movement against him will be intensified,” he said.
Pathak, a 1990-batch IAS officer, is known for his strict and disciplined nature among the bureaucratic circles of Patna. He is a native of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and took charge of the excise department in 2021.