JOIN US A day after applying for mass casual leave on Monday to protest the relentless “hounding” by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) under its director Jacob Thomas, IAS officers in Kerala are set to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to express their grievances.
The unprecedented decision to go on mass leave for a day followed what officers called the latest in Thomas’ series of vindictive campaigns.
On Friday, VACB registered an FIR against Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) Paul Antony as third accused in connection with former industries minister E P Jayarajan’s appointment of a relative as the managing director of the public sector Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd.
“We are unable to understand how obeying the written instructions of a minister, which is not in violation of any act or statute, can be deemed illegal, and how such an officer can be implicated in a criminal case,” the officers said in a statement.
The day-off will express the officers’ “sadness, frustration and professional dissatisfaction” over the VACB director’s continued abuse of powers, the note read.
The officers are expected to meet Vijayan on Monday and present a memorandum, detailing concerns over the government’s inability to rein in the DGP, who has, since commencing his latest term at the bureau, triggered collective opposition from the IAS ranks. The cases were motivated in “vindictive retaliation” against officials who have in the past pointed out Thomas’ misdoings” or questioned his powers to take law into his hands, they said. They maintained that corruption cases against the officers amounted to abuse of power — some cases were reopened even after the departmental inquiry was completed.