Kerala: M Sivasankar suspended for violation of conduct rules

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government on Thursday suspended senior IAS officer and former principal secretary to chief minister M Sivasankar from service for his links with the accused in the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case. The action is based on recommendations of a twomember committee comprising chief secretary Vishwas Mehta and additional chief secretary (finance) Rajesh Kumar Singh.
“On the basis of the report of the high-level committee, M Sivasankar is being suspended from service pending an investigation. The committee had found that there were violations of all-India service rules. A departmental inquiry will follow,” chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
It is reliably learnt that the committee cited that there was a recommendation from Sivasankar to appoint accused Swapna Suresh in Spacepark. Also, he maintained an unauthorised contact with a junior employee of a foreign consulate, both of which are violations of all-India service (conduct) rules.
However, Vijayan declined to comment on the other allegations, saying he needs to study the report in detail.
Ramesh: CM had no other option
He said the committee had focused on service-related matters while there was already a police investigation against Swapna for producing a fake certificate to secure the job. The chief minister said the state police had no role in the main probe into gold smuggling while the Centre is also probing if it has any extremist link. The state police will effectively probe the complaint about the fake certificate, he said.
Earlier in the day, a CPI delegation led by revenue minister E Chandrasekharan had conveyed the party opinion on the matter to Vijayan. It said Sivasankar should be suspended at the earliest. Sivasankar was removed as principal secretary and also from the post of IT secretary earlier this week after it came to light that he had a close relationship with the accused.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, meanwhile, said the chief minister had no other option other than to suspend Sivasankar. He alleged that the IAS officer was suspended when the chief minister found that the probe could turn against him. He demanded that the office of the chief minister should also be probed as Sivasankar wielded much power there.
Both the Congress and the BJP had launched protests demanding the suspension of Sivasankar since July 5, when the customs department arrested Sarith, a former employee of the UAE consulate, on charges of facilitating smuggling of 30kg gold in diplomatic baggage from Dubai. The customs sleuths had also questioned the former IT secretary for nine hours on Tuesday.