The Kerala government on Monday suspended two IAS officers, Kerala Industries and Commerce Director K Gopalakrishnan and Agriculture Department Special Secretary N Prasanth, who have been at the centre of two recent controversies.
Gopalakrishnan, a 2013-batch officer, has been embroiled in a controversy this month following the formation of a WhatsApp group called “Mallu Hindu Officers”. Prasanth, a 2007-batch officer, caused a stir over the last three days after taking to social media and making multiple posts against another IAS officer, Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took the decision to suspend the two based on reports from Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan. Earlier in the day, Revenue Minister K Rajan had said that the government would “not allow officials to act as they feel… Officials will have to work as per norms and procedure”.
The “Mallu Hindu Officers” group was formed on October 30 and it had added senior IAS officers, who were Hindu, as its members. It was deleted within hours of its creation as several officials flagged the impropriety of such a group. Days later, Gopalakrishnan filed a police complaint claiming that the group was created after his phone was hacked, and that several other groups, including one called “Mallu Muslim Officers”, had also been created.
However, the order suspending Gopalakrishnan said that a police investigation revealed there was “no evidence indicating that the device was hacked” as he had claimed. “It is also revealed that repeated factory reset of the mobile phone was done by the officer (Gopalakrishnan) himself before submitting his phones for forensic examination,” the order stated.
According to the order, the government is of the view that the WhatsApp group “was intended to foment division, sow disunity and break the solidarity within the cadres of the All India Services in the state. It was also prima facie found to be creating communal formations and alignments within the cadres of the All India Services in the state.”
Prasanth’s suspension came after he took to social media, making multiple posts against Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak, who he called a “special reporter” for a Malayalam daily that had published a report that Prasanth took objection to.
The immediate trigger for Prasanth’s posts seemed to be a story published in the Malayalam daily, Mathrubhumi, on Friday, which claimed that Jayathilak, a 1991-batch IAS officer, had submitted a report to the Chief Minister regarding “files missing” at UNNATHI – a state government agency for streamlining of SC/ST welfare schemes – while Prasanth served as special secretary in the SC/ST Department.
Taking to Facebook later, Prasanth, a 2007-batch officer, alleged: “Mathrubhumi, which is not familiar with officials who go to the field, has carried news against me. As usual, the newspaper did not seek my side. I am forced to inform the public of certain facts about Mathrubhumi special reporter Dr Jayathilak IAS, who drafts reports against me and shares the same with the newspaper.”
On Sunday, Prasanth again came out against Jayathilak, sharing a news report on a preliminary probe against the Jayathilak with regard to alleged irregularities during the latter’s term as the chairman of the Spices Board.
Prasanth’s suspension order said his comments “amount to grave indiscipline and that such remarks undermine the public image of the administrative machinery in the state. The remarks prima facie also have the potential of creating divisiveness and disaffection in the Indian Administrative Service in the state that can also affect service to the public.” It said the remarks were “unbecoming” of an IAS officer.
Reacting to his suspension, Prasanth said the action was taken without seeking an explanation from him. “I have not criticised the government. The fake report against me was published in Mathrubhumi only to divert attention. There was a conspiracy behind it,” he said.
Gopalakrishnan did not react to his suspension.
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