The IAS officers of Kerala on Monday were forced to drop their move to go on a day’s leave en masse to protest against the alleged hunt being carried out against senior bureaucrats by Vigilance Director Jacob Thomas IPS after Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan virtually blasted them for their plan at a meeting with them in the morning.
Immediately after Pinarayi said in a Press Conference that the particular protest form of the IAS officers who were responsible for the State’s administration was unacceptable, the bureaucrats returned to work by informing that they were dropping their move to go on leave. About 25 senior IAS officers had applied for a day’s leave till late Sunday night.
The IAS officers had decided to stage such a protest after the Vigilance named Paul Antony, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, as third accused in a case pertaining to a nepotistic appointment made by CPI(M)’s former Industries Minister EP Jayarajan in a public sector industrial enterprise under his department when he was in office.
“If the (IAS officers’) intention is to force the Government to surrender to them through their particular protest form, the Government is not prepared to accept it. They have been informed about this,” Pinarayi said after the meeting with the senior civil servants. Observers feel that Pinarayi has established total control over State administration with this move.
“This was the first time IAS officers had held such a meeting to decide on – we could say, a strike. It can’t be accepted,” the Chief Minister said. “This is not the first time an IAS officer has been named in a case. Cases had been registered against officers in the past also and some had even faced suspension,” Pinarayi said, adding that Government would not bow to such pressures.
According to the Chief Minister, the IAS officers’ protest move in the name of a Vigilance case against a bureaucrat was unacceptable as there was the opportunity to contest the case in the court. Pinarayi asked whether the entire police force would go on strike if one policeman faced action.
The Government cannot interfere in cases and influence the investigators, Pinarayi said, adding that the Government wanted investigations to be fair and impartial. The officers told the Chief Minister that their move was not against the Government but they only wanted to convey their anxiety over the Vigilance’s methods but he said that such arguments were unjustifiable.
The State’s senior IAS officers have been up in arms against Jacob Thomas, seen as an upright officer, for quite some time. The bureaucrats had started complaining openly about him a few weeks ago following the Vigilance raids at homes of Tom Jose, Additional Chief Secretary, labour, and KM Abraham, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, in disproportionate assets cases.
The Chief Minister came down heavily on Abraham for holding the IAS officer’s meeting on Saturday in the Finance Secretary’s office at which the plan to go on mass protest leave was devised. That Pinarayi reiterated his firm support for Jacob Thomas turned out to be yet another setback for the IAS officers.
Though the Marxist Chief Minister has been able to overcome a huge crisis and embarrassment with his tough stand, the Government may continue to face problems from the part of the IAS officers as Vigilance cases against senior bureaucrats handling sensitive administrative issues are bound to come up in the future also, say observers.
“There are several bureaucrats who hold that IAS officers, the actual force behind the State’s administrative machinery, cannot go for such protests. At the same time, nobody wants to be trapped in legal cases for politicians’ mistakes. I won’t be surprised if IAS officers try to keep as much distance as possible from Ministers in the future,” said a former Chief Secretary.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress, however, criticized Pinarayi Vijayan for “browbeating” the IAS officers. “The officers have a complaint and it is the duty of the Chief Minister to listen to them and try to find solutions to problems. What Pinarayi did was to scare away the officers when they approached him with a complaint,” he said.