THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tourism director Krishna Teja courted controversy after he issued circular asking employees, particularly women, to desist from filing frivolous complaints and withdrawing allegations made in the complaints during the departmental inquiry. The circular, that did the rounds on social media, earned flak for the young IAS officer as it had also warned that details of employees who file bogus complaints will be collected and action taken against them.
According to the circular, the precious time and effort of officials inquiring about such complaints go waste when the complainants either withdraw their plaint or retract the allegations. The circular, many felt would dissuade genuine complainants from speaking up, especially in cases relating to sexual harassment at the workplace. “The employer is duty-bound to take action against complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace,” reminded a social media user.
Krishna Teja told TNIE that the circular was meant only to dissuade complaints that are false or intended to harass another person. There is a proper Internal Complaints Committee in place that deals with such plaints. The circular is not intended to dissuade genuine complainants, he clarified.