The Kerala government on Monday has suspended two IAS officers on disciplinary grounds, citing breaches of conduct. The two suspended officers are K Gopalakrishnan (Director of Industries and Commerce) and N Prasanth (Special Secretary, Agriculture Development and Farmers’ Welfare department).

According to reports, K Gopalakrishnan was suspended for creating a religion-based WhatsApp group for government officials, whereas N Prasanth was suspended for criticizing and making allegations against a senior officer. Disciplinary action has been taken against N Prasanth.

The officials stated that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has taken action against the officers following a report by Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan.

Why Is K Gopalakrishnan Suspended?

The controversy began after several officers in the Kerala cadre were added into WhatsApp group named “Mallu Hindu Officers” on October 30. K Gopalakrishnan, a 2013 batch IAS officer was accused of allegedly creating the group, which included only Hindu officers. This action prompted immediate objections. The group was deleted the next day after several officers considered it as a breach of the secular values that government officials are expected to uphold. After the matter came into notice, Gopalakrishnan had filed police complaint and claimed that his phone had been hacked. He denied involvement in formation of the WhatsApp group. However, the forensic examination of the phone didn’t support the ‘hacked’ claim.

Why Is N Prasanth Suspended?

N Prasanth, a 2007-batch officer faced action after he wrote things against Additional Chief Secretary A Jayathilak in a Facebook post. Prasanth had accused the senior officer of putting up baseless news reports against him. He alleged that Jayathilak was working to undermine him by spreading unfounded allegations. Reportedly, he even called the senior officer as a “psychopath”.

This outburst followed a media report that claimed several files of ‘UNNATHI’ (initiative aimed at the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) went missing during his tenure as its CEO. He is an active social media user and known as ‘Collector Bro’.

Earlier, Kerala Revenue Minister K Rajan had said that government officers should follow discipline while in service and anyone violating it, would face tough action. He had asserted that officials will have to work as per norms and procedure.

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