Patna district magistrate (DM) Sanjay Kumar Agarwal on Saturday took strong exception to the husband of a government primary school principal running the institute by proxy and issued her suspension order.

The DM issued the suspension order against Manju Sinha on a report by Sampatchak block development officer (BDO) Kunj Bihari Singh under whom the primary school runs at Ramnagar.

"On the basis of the BDO's report, it has come to my knowledge that it was principal Manju Sinha's husband who was actually running the school after which I ordered an immediate suspension followed by departmental proceedings against her," Agarwal told The Telegraph.

The Patna DM also directed the Sampatchak BDO to make an inspection of the school. Agarwal said it was the first time such an incident had come to his knowledge - charge of impersonation against a government employee.

"For the first time, such an incident has come to light," Agarwal said.

"Normally this happens in the case of women mukhiyas whose husbands accompany them but there they are not allowed to take part in the meetings. Such an incident is disturbing. How can a government employee do this? Strict action would be taken if such cases come to me in the future."

Kunj said Manju's husband Nitya Nand Sahi was the person running the school. During inspection, they found that the school attendance register was in his possession and the principal was always absent from school.

During the inspection, the BDO also found that Sahi used his muscle power to create fear among members of the school management.

"The report also revealed that the mid-day meal programme was not being carried out on a regular basis as rotten rice was found in the store room," Agarwal said.

"The list of stock in the store room was not managed properly and during the inspection, the register was not shown to the BDO. Villagers said Manju's husband used to run the school in her place."

Agarwal also served a show cause notice to the Sampatchak block education officer Asha Raio, asking her why action was not taken in the matter even after having information about it.

"Next time if such an incident comes to my knowledge, action would be taken against block development officers as well and responsibilities would be fixed accordingly," Agarwal added.