IAS officer in row over sending inappropriate messages

A senior IAS officer in Kerala is caught up in a row over allegedly sending unacceptable messages to a junior colleague.

Bishwanath Sinha, a 1992 batch officer in Principal Secretary rank, was on Wednesday transferred from the key General Administration department to the Printing and Stationary department, which is considered to be a low profile one.

The Opposition Congress in Kerala has demanded that a case should be registered against the officer and a probe initiated.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sinha reacted to a section of media that the allegations against him were baseless.

Kerala PCC general secretary Jyothikumar Chamakala alleged that Sinha misbehaved with more than one young women IAS officers and used to send them objectionable messages even during odd hours. One of the young officers was also learnt to have raised the issue on a WhatsApp group of IAS officers. But as Sinha continued to send messages, one of them reported the matter to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie. The academy authorities were learnt to have reported it to the Kerala government.

Earlier also Mr. Sinha had faced similar allegations and was transferred from the General Administration department, but was later reinstated.

Mr. Sinha was reportedly at loggerheads with the employees of the Kerala Government Secretariat as he initiated punching system in the office.