Suspension against K Gopalakrishnan withdrawn, to be given new charge soon, N Prasanth’s suspension extended by four months

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has extended the suspension of special secretary, agriculture department N Prasanth for publicly criticizing additional chief secretary Dr A Jayathilak on social media. The government has issued an order extending the suspension for another four months (120 days). Along with this, the government has withdrawn the suspension of K Gopalakrishnan, director of industries department, accused of creating a WhatsApp group of civil service officials based on religion. The suspension was withdrawn after the disciplinary review committee accepted Gopalakrishnan's explanation. He will be given a new charge soon.

The charges against N Prasanth include tarnishing the image of the administration and making abusive remarks against higher officials. Prasanth has not yet responded to the charge memo issued. He violated the service rules by continuously criticizing Jayathilak and giving interviews to the media even after his suspension. He acted with the aim of destroying the unity of the administration. The memo said Prasanth's actions should never have happened from the side of a civil service officer bringing disrespect to the IAS.

He was asked to respond within 30 days. Prasanth was suspended from service on November 11. The suspension was following Prasanth's harsh criticism on social media, accusing A Jayathilak of being behind the allegation levelled against him. The issue pertains to an inquiry report of Jayathilak blaming Prasanth for the disappearance of files related to the Unnathi project, when he was its CEO. Prasanth termed the allegation as false. Later, more evidence emerged to prove that this was true. Prasanth later sent a legal notice to the chief secretary and then a letter raising seven questions. This stoked a controversy then.

The review committee, chaired by the chief secretary, had recommended that action against K Gopalakrishnan be terminated. The suspension was triggered by an investigation after it was revealed that Gopalakrishnan had first formed the WhatsApp group 'Mallu Hindu Officers' and then a Muslim group as an admin on October 31. The chief secretary had pointed in the suspension order that Gopalakrishnan tried to break the unity and create division among the IAS officers.

The police had also found that there was no evidence for Gopalakrishnan's claim that his phone had been hacked. However, the charge memo was issued without making serious allegations against Gopalakrishnan. The police investigation report had stated that a case could not be registered. The report of Narcotics Cell Assistant Commissioner Ajith Chandran Nair, who conducted the preliminary investigation, had said that the case would not stand as there were no messages containing hate speech in the group. It was also a challenge to prove that Gopalakrishnan himself had created the group since he had reset his own phone and deleted all the information.