Kochi, Dec 30: Two IAS officers in Kerala were suspended for violating service rules. One officer allegedly created a religion-based WhatsApp group, while the other publicly criticized a senior officer on social media.
The suspension orders issued by the Kerala government against two IAS officers, K Gopalakrishnan and N Prashant, cite violations of service rules and serious indiscipline, alleging that the former's action sowed disunity within the All India Service Cadre, while the latter's conduct undermined the public image of the state's administrative machinery.
Gopalakrishnan was suspended for creating a religion-based WhatsApp group for government officials, and Prashant faced action for publicly criticising a senior IAS officer on social media.
In the suspension orders issued, the government made it clear that the act of both civil service officers amounted to grave indiscipline and violation of various sections of the All India Service Conduct Rules, 1968.
The order said that it has come to the notice of the government that a WhatsApp group was created recently, of which Gopalakrishnan, Director of Industries, was stated to be the administrator of the said group.
The order, issued by Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan, further stated that a police inquiry revealed that there was no evidence indicating that the mobile phone of Gopalakrishnan was hacked, as claimed by the officer.
It is also revealed that a repeated factory reset of the mobile phone was done by the officer himself before submitting his phones for forensic examination.
|