THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A departmental inquiry has been announced against Subin Babu, a senior scientist at NATPAC, for his Facebook post criticising Minister KB Ganesh Kumar.

The investigation is being conducted on the directions of NATPAC director Dr Samson Mathew, by a committee comprising the registrar and two scientists. The report was to be submitted tonight itself.

A preliminary investigation revealed that there was a lapse on Subin's part. In the meantime, Subin withdrew the post and apologized. Subin's Facebook post was against the remarks made by the minister at the meeting called to review the transport commissioner's decision to make child seats mandatory for children in cars. The minister had criticized the officials, saying that the commissioner had put forward an impractical proposal. Subin had made a strong criticism against this.

Subin's posts on road safety issues have courted controversy in the past as well. Subin's remarks regarding the rescue operation in Shirur were also controversial. NATPAC authorities then instructed him to restrict his comments on social media.

Subin's controversial Facebook post

"The officials did not ask the minister, 'What sort of dumb are you?' because they were afraid that the minister would defame them. Those who are shouting nonsense should remember that even a water snake will bite if pushed to the limits. The child seat is essential but requires time to be implemented. That's all I saw in Transport Commissioner Nagaraju sir's circular. If you can find money to buy a car, you can take a child safely if you spend another Rs 3,000 with it."