Patna, March 12: An FIR has been registered against a Bihar cadre IAS officer, R.K. Mahajan, for alleged involvement in gross irregularities in the appointment of teachers in different government schools in Muzaffarpur district.

Mahajan's batchmate Sudhir Kumar is languishing in jail for alleged involvement in the leak of question papers of clerical grade examination conducted by the Bihar Staff Selection Commission.

Police said that an FIR was lodged against Mahajan, a 1987-batch IAS officer, at the Muzaffarpur town police station yesterday on the directive of a local court. Mahajan has been accused of recruiting around 1,000 teachers, allegedly on the basis of fake educational and teacher eligibility test (TET) certificates in 2011-12.

The court order came after a petition was filed in the Muzaffarpur court by Pankaj Kumar, who alleged gross irregularities in the appointment of teachers in different government schools in the district. Mahajan was principal secretary in the education department at the time.

A senior police official said the names of Muzaffarpur district education officer Satyendra Narain Kanth, district project officer Nita Pandey and 16 block education officers figured in the FIR. Earlier, district magistrate Dharmendra Singh had ordered sub-divisional officer (west) Ranjeeta to probe the matter. The officer found the allegations to be true. Most of the appointments were made in schools falling under the jurisdiction of Bandra and Minapur blocks of the district. "FIRs were registered against 335 teachers on the recommendation of the inquiry report submitted by the SDO," Pankaj told the court.

The court had passed an or-der to lodge an FIR against the accused and initiate probe on November 28, but the police delayed the process. Mahajan, principal secretary in the health department, is considered close to a senior RJD leader. He did not pick up calls.

In the petition, Pankaj alleged the appointments were made on the basis of fake degrees but district project officer (DPO) Pandey was also paying them salary. "The payment of salary violates the education department order," the petitioner told the police.

Mahajan has also been charged with shielding candidates and department officials responsible for fake appointments and plundering of public money.