Collector brother among 2 Kerala IAS officers suspended for indiscipline

Thiruvananthapuram:

The Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala has suspended two Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers on disciplinary grounds. Industries and Commerce Director K Gopalakrishnan faced action from government officials over a religion-based WhatsApp group. N Prashant, Special Secretary, Department of Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare, was suspended after criticizing a senior officer and making serious allegations.

According to officials, the Chief Minister has taken action against the officials after the report by Chief Secretary Saradha Muralitharan.

Mr Gopalakrishnan, a 2013 batch officer, has been suspended for creating a WhatsApp group named “Mallu Hindu Officers” last month. After the controversy, the IAS officer had claimed that his phone was hacked. According to officials, forensic examination of the phone did not establish that it was hacked and found that the phone had been formatted amid the dispute.

Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner Spurgeon Kumar said it was unclear whether the device had been tampered with as it had been “reset”.

In the case of 2007-batch officer N Prashanth, the action was taken following his outburst against Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak in a Facebook post. He accused the senior officer of running baseless news against him. Mr Prashant alleged that Mr Jayathilak was trying to weaken him by spreading baseless allegations. He described the senior officer as a “psychopath”.

The outcry came after a media report claimed that several files of 'Unnati' – an initiative aimed at the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes – went missing during Mr Prashant's tenure as its CEO. Mr Prashant has previously served as Kozhikode District Collector, among other roles. He is very active on social media and is famous as 'Collector Bro'.

Mr Prashant told a news channel that he had not received details regarding the action against him. “This is a new experience for me. Criticizing the government or its policies is wrong and action can be taken. I don't think anyone would be of the opinion that I have done anything like this. My criticism was targeted at certain people Was.” Evidence has also emerged in this regard of unfair practices, particularly with regard to fabricated reports. I'm sure it's not government policy to make fake reports, but if criticizing such actions comes with consequences, that's news to me. Called himself a “whistleblower”.

He said that the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression to all citizens. “I am unaware of crossing any limits within this authority. Let us see the order, and then I will consider my next step. I was not born with the sole ambition of becoming an IAS officer. I have other interests and activities , he adds.

Earlier, Kerala Revenue Minister K Rajan had said that government officials must follow discipline while in service and anyone violating it will face strict action.

The action against N Prashant is also going on in the political background. Former state fisheries minister Mercykutty Amma has accused the IAS officer of working with opposition UDF leaders in a conspiracy to level corruption charges against her.