The cabinet on Tuesday cleared the education department's proposal to pay salary to teachers of secondary and higher secondary schools during their training period.

Cabinet coordination department principal secretary Brajesh Mehrotra said the decision was taken at a meeting presided over by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Mehrotra added that the cabinet gave its nod to Bihar District Board Secondary and Higher Secondary (Employment and Service Conditions) (Amendment) Rules, 2016, and Bihar Municipal Bodies Secondary and Higher Secondary (Employment and Service Conditions) (Amendment) Rules, 2016, for the purpose.

Earlier, he added, untrained teachers appointed by the district board and municipal bodies in secondary and higher secondary schools had to complete their training courses such as BEd within six years of their appointment. However, after the amendment in the existing rules, such teachers have to complete their training course within three years of their appointment.

In addition, the teachers would have to give an undertaking to the appointing authorities that they would serve the schools at least for five years after completing their training programme. If they do not render their services for the specified period, such teachers would have to return the money to the government.

The cabinet also decided to give more financial powers to the officials concerned for auctioning of government owned market places such as village fair, bus stops among others. With the amendment in the rules, the circle officer would be able to auction market places in rural and semi-urban areas up to Rs 10,000, sub-divisional officer up to Rs 50,000, district collector land reforms up to Rs 1 lakh and the district magistrate up to Rs 5 lakh. Above Rs 5 lakh, such a decision would be taken by the government.

The cabinet also approved the appointment of Patna High Court judge Justice Hemant Gupta as the executive chairman of Bihar State Legal Service Authority. The incumbent chairman, Justice Ramesh Kumar Datta, is likely to retire next month.

It released Rs 308.75 lakh for completion of flood projects under South Asia Water Initiative.

The project would benefit around 9 lakh people of flood-affected districts such as Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Khagaria and Samastipur. The funds would used for strengthening the communication and weather forecast machinery in the state.