On social media, Prasanth criticized A Jayathilak, a senior IAS officer.
Two Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers have been suspended on disciplinary reasons by the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala. The move against K Gopalakrishnan, the director of Industries and Commerce, was related to a WhatsApp group for government officials that was focused on religion. After criticizing and making grave accusations against a senior officer, N Prashanth, the special secretary for the Agriculture Development and Farmers’ Welfare department, was suspended. Following a report by Chief Secretary Sarada Muralitharan, officials say the Chief Minister has taken action against the policemen.
A 2013-batch officer called Mr. Gopalakrishnan was suspended for starting the “Mallu Hindu Officers” WhatsApp group last month. The IAS officer had alleged that his phone had been hacked after a dispute. Officials claim that a forensic analysis of the phone revealed that it had been formatted during the dispute and did not prove that it had been compromised. According to Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Sparjan Kumar, the gadget had been “reset,” thus it’s unclear if it was compromised.
The action was taken in the case of 2007-batch officer N Prashanth after he attacked Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak in a Facebook post. He said that the top commander had planned unfounded news stories about him. Mr. Prashanth said that Mr. Jayathilak was circulating false accusations in an attempt to discredit him. The senior cop, he said, was a “psychopath”.
Is Collector Bro being singled out for disobeying the Chief Secretary? faces the Raghavan spat action
The outburst followed a media report that claimed several files of ‘Unnathi’ — an initiative aimed at the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes — went missing during Mr Prashanth’s tenure as its CEO. Mr Prashanth has earlier worked as Kozhikode District Collector, among other roles. He is quite active on social media and is popularly known as ‘Collector Bro’.
Mr. Prashanth stated on a television program that he was not provided with the specifics of the action taken against him. For me, this is a novel experience. It is improper to criticize the government or its policies, and there are things that can be done about it. Nobody will believe that I have done something like that, I don’t think. I was critical of several people’s irresponsible behavior, especially with relation to false reports. There is evidence that supports this as well. I trust that creating fake reports is not a government policy, but if criticising such actions leads to consequences, that’s news to me,” said the officer, who has called himself a “whistleblower”.
He claimed that everyone’s right to free speech is protected by the Constitution. “I have no idea what limits I may have gone over in using this liberty. I’ll think about my next course of action after we get the order. Being an IAS officer was not my only goal from birth. “I have other hobbies and interests,” he continued.
K Rajan, the Kerala Revenue Minister, has previously stated that government employees should adhere to discipline while working and that those who do not would face severe consequences.
There is a political context to the action against N Prashanth as well. Mercykutty Amma, a former state minister of fisheries, has accused the IAS officer of conspiring with opposition UDF lawmakers to file corruption allegations against her.
Two Kerala IAS officers were suspended for indiscipline, including Collector Bro.
Is this retaliation for not participating in the political game being played by the Kerala Chief Secretary? Kozhikode Collector Prasanth Nair was notified by Chief Secretary SM Vijayanand via notice on January 11 that he was accused of misbehavior in connection with a confrontation he had with Congress MP MK Raghavan.
The fact that the argument took place more than six months ago is intriguing and suggests a case of retaliation. However, only two days after the Chief Secretary’s unsuccessful attempt to go on strike, the notification was sent on January 11. At the Chief Secretary’s request, IAS officials in Kerala agreed to take a mass leave of absence on January 9 in protest of Vigilance Head Jacob Thomas’ alleged targeting of bureaucrats.
According to sources, Kozhikode Collector Prashant Nair, often referred to as Collector Bro, had declined to take a leave of absence. He had told his top officers that he thought it was wrong to go after someone like the head of the VACB and that accusations of corruption should be contested and refuted. According to reports, he also told senior officials that this would give the public the false impression that bureaucrats support corruption.
According to the Chief Secretary’s letter, the Collector may face consequences under the AIS (D&A) Rules 1969 since he was unable to provide a convincing explanation for his public disputes with the MP. Despite several attempts, Prasanth Nair, who was on leave on Tuesday, was not available for comment.
