The Tamil Nadu IAS Officers Association on Thursday reportedly sought an appointment with chief minister J Jayalalithaa to discuss “various issues” faced by them in the state. This comes after the recent suspension of two top bureaucrats in the state.
Reporting for the Times of India, Julie Mariappan writes:
The association had called for a special general body meeting in the secretariat, close on the heels of the suspension of former chief secretary and TIDCO chairman K Gnanadesikan and commissioner of geology and mines Atul Anand, ostensibly without holding any inquiry. The meeting which went on for an hour on Thursday evening saw officials of various capacities participating and expressing their concerns over the punitive action faced by the officials.
It is further reported that the association unanimously resolved to seek an appointment with the chief minister for representing the concerns on these issues and recent developments. Around 50 members attended the meeting.
On Monday, journalists received information that a senior IAS officer, K Gnanadesikan, was suspended from service. The former Chief Secretary had been suspended, official sources confirmed, but no official announcement was made, and no reasons given.
It later emerged that another IAS officer Atul Anand, officers in the geology department and three executive engineers in the pollution control department were also suspended.
While the reasons for the suspensions are unknown, there are many speculations doing the rounds.
While some reports say that Gnanadesikan was in the line of fire after a central report pointed out discrepancies in mining in the state, other reports say he was in trouble over power sector contracts.
In view of the unexplained suspensions, IAS officers banded together to take the issue to the CM.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the DMK staged a walkout of the state's Assembly proceedings after Speaker P Dhanpal reportedly refused permission to raise the issue of the suspensions.
Speaking to the media later, DMK leader Stalin said "We raised the issue in the assembly during the zero hour as we wanted an explanation from the government. But the speaker said issues concerning officials could not be raised in the House and expunged whatever I said“