Patna: Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh's continuation as the top bureaucrat of Bihar has come under a cloud in the wake of the notice issued against him by a special CBI court in Ranchi in connection with the fodder scam.

Anjani, a 1981 batch IAS officer, was posted as deputy commissioner of Dumka (now in Jharkhand) when the excess withdrawal of funds took place from the treasury between December 1995 and January 1996. He has been asked to appear in person in the court on March 28.

The bureaucrat on Wednesday moved Jharkhand High Court challenging the order of the special CBI judge Shiv Pal Singh who has ordered the agency to add Anjani as an accused in the Dumka treasury case.

Anjani, considered close to chief minister Nitish Kumar, was due to retire from service on February 28 this year but he was given a three-month extension. However, he was taken aback when a CBI court in Ranchi issued notices earlier this month asking the investigating agency to make him accused in the Dumka treasury case.

"The sudden turn of events has upset bureaucrats. The chief minister decided to extend his (Anjani's) service for three months just to ease pressure to select the new one for the coveted post. Had it not been the case, Nitish would have also extended the service of P.K. Thakur, who retired as director-general of police (DGP) on February 28," said a senior bureaucrat.

The officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the Opposition created a ruckus in the Assembly demanding immediate dismissal of Anjani as chief secretary.

"The drubbing received by the JDU-BJP combine in the byelections, the results of which were declared on Wednesday, will sharpen the attack on the ruling alliance," the officer, who is not in contention for the chief secretary's post, told The Telegraph.

To buttress his point, the officer said the state government would not like to face embarrassment at the hands of the court if any action was taken against Anjani when he deposes in the case on March 28.

A much junior IAS officer has been tipped to take charge as the next chief secretary, replacing Anjani, who was appointed in June 2014.

Anjani couldn't be reached for his comments. However, a close confidant said that he (Anjani) would certainly honour the order of the court concerned.

Barring a few months during the tenure of then chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi (who had appointed Sudhir Kumar Rakesh as chief secretary), Anjani has been serving in the post since 2014. Altogether 11 officers are in the rank of chief secretary.

Reacting to the controversy surrounding Anjani, RJD's national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari said: "Perhaps for the first time in the history of Bihar the two top posts - chief secretary and the DGP - are being held by controversial officers. While the serving chief secretary's tenure is now shrouded in controversy due to his involvement in the fodder scam, the DGP had been indicted by a judicial commission of inquiry in the 1989 Bhagalpur riots."

Anjani's former Jharkhand counterpart and senior Sajal Chakraborty, a Jharkhand cadre IAS officer of the 1980 batch, was recently awarded a five-year jail term in the fodder scam by the special CBI court in Ranchi. He was the deputy commissioner of Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand) when the excess withdrawal of funds took place.

A senior IPS officer, who has been closely monitoring the proceedings of the court against half a dozen serving and retired IAS and IPS officers of Bihar who had been served notices, said Chakraborty was convicted on charges similar to the ones Anjani faces in the Dumka treasury case.