Chief minister Nitish Kumar addresses a news conference at his official residence in Patna on Monday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Sept. 5: The classy three-storeyed house of suspended IAS officer Shiva Shanker Verma confiscated yesterday could soon become a school for Dalit children. The fate of his four cottahs of land at Biharsharif seized today is yet to be decided.

According to HRD sources, Verma’s palatial building at Rukunpura would house a school for children of Musahar community. The sources said a senior member of the same community would inaugurate the institution.

Confirming that the process of handing over the confiscated house to the human resource development (HRD) department was on, chief minister Nitish Kumar said: “What has happened (confiscation of the house of Verma) is the first to happen in India. What will happen (turning the house into a school) will also be the first in India.”

Nitish said: “There are several schools which function from dilapidated buildings. A few have no structure. The seized buildings will house such schools.”

The chief minister said the conversion of houses of corrupt officers to schools would be a “natural process”. “There will be no high-profile inauguration of these schools,” he said, insisting that dep- artments like the social welfare department may also seek possession of the confiscated buildings for turning them into night shelters for the poor.

The chief minister recalled that during his election campaign he had promised to take over the houses of corrupt public servants and convert them into schools. He stressed today that the impact of the confiscation of Verma’s house would be a much more than a symbolic gesture.

“It will send a loud and clear message to public servants that buildings and assets purchased using ill-gotten money will not remain with them,” Nitish said.

The chief minister said his government had taken the initiative to formulate the Bihar Special Court Act in 2009, which has specific laws about confiscating property made by public servants though ill-gotten money.

“The only delay was the one year the Centre took to give its approval,” Nitish said, stressing that the action under the new law had become visible with the confiscation of Verma’s house.

According to an official, the land revenue department is likely to send a note to the cabinet meeting proposing that Verma’s house be handed over to the HRD because around 200 schools in Patna alone function with- out buildings.

Incidentally, the state government’s speed in this matter can be gauged from the fact that the district magistrate of Patna has reportedly issued a notice to Verma on Monday asking him to vacate all his belongings from the locked rooms. Verma has been given two days to remove his belongings.

The admirers of Nitish believe the chief minister’s image would grow significantly if Verma’s house is converted into a school for Musahar community children. “It will work wonders for the image of Nitish because people would see him as a man who took away a house from a corrupt official and gave it to the poor,” a senior JD(U) leader said.