THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government late on Monday evening suspended two senior IAS officers, K Gopalakrishnan (industries & commerce director) and Prasanth N (agriculture special secretary), from service for breach of discipline. The action against the officers came at the directions of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after Chief Secretary Sarada Murlaeedharan apprised him of the two bureaucrats’ conduct.
Gopalakrishnan allegedly created a WhatsApp group of IAS officers on religious lines, while Prasanth launched a tirade against Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak through social media. The two officers were found to have violated the All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968.
In the suspension order of Goapalakrishnan, the chief secretary noted that the WhatsApp group created by him was intended to foment division, sow disunity and break the solidarity within the cadre of the All India Services in the state. It was also prima facie found to be creating communal formations and alignments within the cadre of the All India Services. The group, ‘Mallu Hindu Off’, was created on October 31 and had both serving and retired bureaucrats as its members. It was deleted after some of the added members pointed out the impropriety.
In the suspension order of Prasanth, the chief secretary noted that his remarks amounted to grave indiscipline and they undermine the public image of the administrative machinery in the state. The remarks 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.
The order added that Prasanth’s remarks were found to be unbecoming of an IAS officer.
Action against Gopalakrishnan was certain after the chief secretary forwarded the state police chief’s report on the WhatsApp group incident to the CM on Sunday.
The police had concluded that Gopalakrishnan’s claim that his phone was hacked could not be corroborated. The CS had also submitted a note with the report, saying the explanation by the IAS officer on the matter was not satisfactory.
The chief secretary had also submitted a detailed report on Prasanth’s Facebook posts to the CM on Sunday, giving indications that disciplinary action against him was likely. However, Prasanth continued with his Facebook exploits on Monday, but with cryptic and indirect references.
Prasanth posted a photo of a weeder machine developed by state government company KAMCO.
In the post, Prasanth alluded to a dialogue from a Malayalam movie in which the hero says that he is a “farmer” who is out to “pluck the weed”, in an apparent reference to his move to expose the ‘wrongdoings’ of his senior. Interestingly, Prasanth did not name anyone directly in Monday’s post.
