Patna, Dec. 10: The cabinet coordination department has redefined 'family' barely a month after chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's son-in-law Devendra Kumar quit as his personal assistant (PA) for violating a government rule.

Devendra had quit as Manjhi's PA as his appointment violated a rule framed in 2000 which prohibits chief minister and ministers from appointing their relatives to the post.

But under a new rule, Devendra's appointment would not be illegal. Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi pointed out the change of rule on Wednesday. Principal secretary of the department, B. Pradhan, later confirmed it.

According to a new rule issued on December 3, family includes 'husband, wife, unmarried sons and daughters and father and mother who are dependent'. In a nutshell, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law and others do not any more fall under the category of 'relative'.

Modi said: 'There is no definition of the term relative. This means any minister can appoint a close relative not part of his immediate family as his or her PA.'

The cabinet coordination department sent the new rules to Modi in response to a letter he wrote a month ago, demanding action against Manjhi on moral grounds and institution of a case against him under Section 420 of IPC. Modi maintained that while appointing a PA, the chief minister and ministers have to submit an affidavit confirming that the person is not a relative. By not submitting any such affidavit Manjhi had cheated, Modi had said in his letter.

Speaking to The Telegraph, principal secretary, cabinet coordination, B. Pradhan said: 'As the term 'relative' in the earlier notification was vague, we have changed the guidelines in connection with ministers keeping relatives as their personnel assistants. Only those persons mentioned by the ministers in their affidavit will be considered as relatives.' He said the guidelines where changed as per Vidhan Mandal 2006 rules.

Devendra Kumar had to quit as Manjhi's PA on November 5 after the media exposed the rules framed in 2000. Manjhi had then pleaded he was unaware of the rules and said he would find out. However, soon afterwards, the government got the rules changed .

When the controversy broke out, JDU leaders had maintained silence and nobody came to Manjhi's defence.

The BJP got another shot in its arm when it welcomed three IPS officers into its fold today. Former Bihar director-general of police Aashish Ranjan Sinha, former director-general (home guard) Hira Prasad and retired additional director-general of police Ashok Kumar Gupta joined the BJP, along with Ritesh Ranjan Singh alias Bittu Singh who defected from the JDU.