Suspended IAS Officer alleges U-turn by Kerala Chief Secretary on live-streaming hearing

Thiruvananthapuram: Suspended IAS officer N Prasanth on Monday alleged that the state’s Chief Secretary had initially agreed to his request for live-streaming and video recording of a personal hearing, but later withdrew the permission without citing any reason.

In an open letter sent to the Chief Secretary in February this year, Prasanth — who was suspended in November 2024 for criticising senior IAS officer A Jayathilak on social media — claimed the proceedings against him were unfairly handled and urged the government to drop the charges.

He also requested a hearing, preferably conducted online with digital recording and live streaming.

Following this, on April 4, Prasanth was directed to appear before the Chief Secretary on April 16 for a “personal hearing, as desired.” However, on April 11, the government clarified that no live streaming or recording of the proposed personal hearing will be permitted.

The government has denied his fresh claim for a live streaming and recording of the proceedings.

In a Facebook post, on Monday, Prasanth claimed that his request to record and stream the hearing was fully accepted on April 4 but was unexpectedly withdrawn on April 11.

“In the letter dated 10 February 2025, the request was solely to record and stream the hearing. Though this request was fully accepted on 04 April 2025, it was withdrawn on 11 April 2025. No reasons were mentioned in the letter as to why the decision changed after seven nights,” he wrote.

Criticising a section of the media which described his request as strange, he said, “Some palace correspondents are calling the request strange. In this era of the Right to Information and transparency, who finds this strange? He added that he came to know about key documents, orders, and opinions related to his disciplinary proceedings through TV channels and newspapers. “I even saw some media persons dramatically acting as though the original order permitting streaming never existed,” he wrote.

Another IAS officer, K Gopalakrishnan, was suspended for allegedly creating a religion-based WhatsApp group for government officials.

Both were suspended on November 11 last year.

In January, the Kerala government reinstated Gopalakrishnan but extended Prasanth’s suspension for another 120 days.

Prasanth had levelled serious allegations against Jayathilak, Gopalakrishnan, and Sarada Muraleedharan on Facebook.

In his letter dated February 10, Prasanth alleged that a complaint he filed against Jayathilak on November 14, 2024, supported by evidence was never investigated.

He also pointed out “procedural lapses”, stating that the Chief Secretary had demanded a response to a letter sent on January 18 by the very next day, January 19.

Although he submitted seven reply letters on different occasions, he claimed they were disregarded simply because they were not titled “Statement of Defense.”

Prasanth, a former Special Secretary in the Agriculture Department, further alleged that despite requesting documents related to the disciplinary action in writing thrice, they were provided only after a month’s delay.

He also expressed concern over official correspondence addressed directly to the chief secretary reportedly going missing.