CHENNAI: Four days after the IAS officers’ association submitted a petition to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami condemning the public statements of two state ministers criticising health secretary J Radhakrishan, TN law minister C Ve Shanmugam on Monday slammed the association.

Shanmugam objected to certain words used in the association's petition. In the petition, which was also forwarded to Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, IAS officers had asked the CM to rein in his ministers. Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar backed Shanmugam, while addressing media in Chennai on Monday, and questioned the language used in the petition.

“The Indian constitution gives even a common man the right to question anyone who is at fault. Even if that person is a senior officer in the government, it is the democratic right of an individual to question his or her actions," said Shanmugam while addressing the media in Chennai on Monday.

On December 31, Shanmugam had raised doubts regarding late Chief Minister J Jayalalitha’s death and had blamed Radhakrishnan for reportedly stating that the image of Indian doctors would be at stake globally if Jayalalithaa were taken abroad for treatment. Shanmugham said all those responsible for her death must be taken into police custody under CrPc Section 174. Jayakumar, who supported his colleague's comments, had said that those found guilty by the Arumugaswamy Commission probing Jayalalithaa's death must be investigated using ‘appropriate police techniques’.

Following this the IAS officers’ association, represented by T V Somanathan, submitted a petition to the CM raising the body’s ‘serious concerns’ about the public criticism Radhakrishnan had received. They said it was up to the commission to examine the evidence presented before it and described the actions of the ministers as ‘grossly unfair’.