Chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday ordered that no school in Jharkhand can prevent any student from appearing in a board or annual examination for non-payment of fees.

His direction, which was put out by the information and public relations department, came during the first review meeting of departments Hemant chaired after assuming charge as chief minister on December 29 last year.

Chief secretary D.K. Tiwari and secretaries of departments concerned were part of the meeting — which started around 11am and continued till 6.30pm — at the Project Building where performances and ongoing projects of departments were reviewed.

The departments reviewed included human resource development, excise and prohibition, SC/ST and OBC development, transport, minority welfare, registration, women and child development, health, labour and employment, agriculture, water resources, water and sanitation, building construction, and information technology & e-governance.

During the review meeting of the HRD department headed by minister Jagarnath Mahto, Hemant directed department officials that considering education as a fundamental right no school run by the government, private ones or those managed by Central Coalfields Limited can prevent any student of Class X or Class XII from appearing in the examination just because the student had failed to deposit the requisite fees.

And no student of any class can be denied the opportunity to appear in the annual examination for non-payment of fees, the chief minister added.

However, the directive will not benefit students in this academic year.

Matriculation and intermediate examinations of the state board organised by Jharkhand Academic Council will start from Tuesday. Similarly, the Central Board of Secondary Education has announced examination schedule of Class XII and Class X from February 15 whereas the ICSE Class X boards are set to start from February 27.

During the meeting of the excise and prohibition department, Hemant asked officials about measures taken to stop illegal manufacture and sale of liquor. Jagarnath Mahto, who is also handling that portfolio, later said that the department has sought 200 cops to stop the liquor mafia who smuggle illegal liquor into Jharkhand.