PATNA, Oct. 1 -- Retired IAS officer Deepak Kumar was on Wednesday appointed the vice chairman of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA). According to a statement issued by the Disaster Management department, Kumar will continue as vice chairman of the authority, headed by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, "till further orders". A 1984 batch IAS officer, Deepak Kumar was one of the most trusted aides of former chief minister Nitish Kumar. He rose to become the chief secretary in 2018, and held the post till his retirement three years later. After his retirement, the seasoned bureaucrat was appointed by Nitish Kumar as the Principal Secretary to the CM, and the clout he enjoyed led detractors of the government to say that it was being "run by a cabal of retired officers". After Kumar stepped down as CM in April, making way for a new BJP-led government headed by Choudhary, there had been speculations about the fate of the ex-CM's key aide. As BSDMA vice chairman, Deepak Kumar succeeds Uday Kant Mishra....