Bihar has moved retired IAS officer Deepak Kumar out of the Chief Minister’s Office and appointed him vice-chairperson of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA), giving him the status of a cabinet minister from the date he assumes charge.
The appointment was announced through an official notification issued on Wednesday. Kumar, a 1984-batch officer, had served as principal secretary-cum-adviser to the chief minister for more than five years and continued in that role after retiring from active service in February 2021.
His reassignment ends his long tenure at the CMO and places him in charge of an institution responsible for coordinating disaster management in a state that frequently faces floods and heavy rainfall. The notification specifies that the cabinet minister status will apply once Kumar formally takes charge at BSDMA.
Kumar became Bihar’s chief secretary on May 31, 2018. He had originally been scheduled to retire on February 29, 2020, after reaching the age of 60, but received two successive six-month service extensions from the Centre at the request of the Bihar government. He eventually retired as chief secretary on February 28, 2021, after completing 61 years of age.
He was re-engaged by the state government the following day and continued to work from the Chief Minister’s Office. His latest appointment removes him from the CMO during a broader restructuring of the chief minister’s core administrative team under the Samrat Choudhary-led government, according to the report.
Kumar’s administrative experience includes serving as district magistrate in 13 districts and heading departments including health and urban development. That background will now be applied to BSDMA, whose responsibilities include strengthening disaster response and mitigation arrangements across the state.
The move is significant for Bihar’s urban and rural settlements because recurring floods and intense rainfall can disrupt roads, housing, public services and administrative operations. However, the notification does not specify new programmes, funding allocations, staffing changes or a timeline for reforms under Kumar’s tenure.
The appointment also marks the departure of the last major Nitish Kumar-era aide from the Chief Minister’s Office, the report said. Kumar had retained his position through a recent political transition in the state, making the reassignment both an administrative posting and part of the restructuring of Bihar’s senior bureaucracy.
Kumar’s new role will formally begin when he assumes charge as BSDMA vice-chairperson. The authority’s subsequent actions and any announced changes to disaster-response or mitigation systems will determine the practical impact of the appointment.