Protesters burn effigies of Dilawar Hussain, the suspended Seba secretary, and D.N. Barman, the board?s former chairman, in Guwahati on Sunday (PTI)

Guwahati, Feb. 27: Eager to clean up the mess in the education department after the embarrassing matric question paper leak last weekend, Dispur today appointed a reform-savvy senior bureaucrat as the commissioner of elementary and secondary education and asked him to suggest steps to strengthen the department.

The decision to give the job to Subhas Chandra Das, the man spearheading the restructuring of the Assam State Electricity Board, was taken a day after Dispur accepted the resignation of the chairman and the controller of examinations of the Board of Secondary Education (Seba). Both resigned in the wake of the furore over the paper leak.

The general mathematics exam, which was slated for Saturday, had to be cancelled after Barpeta police seized a handwritten copy of the question paper the previous day.

The jittery government immediately placed Seba secretary Dilawar Hussain under suspension. Mohsin Ali, who replaced Hussain, is doubling as chairman.

The Seba examination committee, which met today, announced that the mathematics exam would be held on March 25. The rest of the matric schedule remains unchanged.

Announcing the cabinet decisions, minister of state for planning and development Himanta Biswa Sarma said Das would undertake an exhaustive study and suggest measures to tone up the administrative mechanism of the education department. The idea is to not only pre-empt lapses, but also make it more transparent and effective.

?Issues related to appointments and delegation of duties will also be looked into. We have not set a timeframe as such assignments take time, but we assure you that the Das Commission of Reforms will come up with proposals as soon as possible. Our focus is to make both Seba and AHSEC (Assam Higher Secondary Education Council) more transparent and effective,? Sarma, who is also the government spokesperson, said.

Known for his no-nonsense style of functioning, Das declined to offer any comment. He said Dispur had not officially intimated him about the assignment till evening.

Hemprakash Narayan, minister in charge of the secondary education department, attended the cabinet meeting but continued to shy away from the media. He is understood to have informed the cabinet that the report of the inquiry into the paper leak would be ready in 15 days.

Various organisations have been demanding Narayan?s resignation on moral grounds.

Indignant guardians said a belated overhaul of the education department could not undo the damage caused by the paper leak. ?Reforms are okay but just imagine the tension we are going through. The exams were supposed to end on March 6. Now we will have to wait till March 25,? an examinee?s father said.