IAS officer Anupam Mishra, who was suspended from service in March for violating a home-quarantine directive, has been reinstated and has now been posted as the Sub-Collector of Alappuzha district of Kerala, say reports.
Mishra, a 2016-batch officer, had arrived in Kollam to take charge as Sub-Collector in March. As he informed his superiors that he had gone abroad, he was asked to quarantine himself at his official residence in Kollam.
When officials tried to contact him later, he was traced to his hometown Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
An official explanation was sought from him, which later was not accepted. The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan then ordered for his suspension. His reinstatement comes after he submitted an apology letter for his indiscretion.
Anupam Mishra had come to Kerala from Singapore at a time when COVID-19 cases were rising. Though he was asked to go for a 14-day quarantine, the rules were violated and he travelled from Kerala to Uttar Pradesh. The incident had drawn a lot of flak, with many questioning the government official for not abiding by the quarantine regulations.
In his official explanation, Anupam Mishra had said that he “mistook home quarantine as permission to go back home.”
He had also been booked by the police for breaking quarantine under sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 271 (Disobedience to quarantine law) of the Indian Penal Code.
The incident was at a time when Kerala was reporting very few COVID-19 cases per day. The total number of people reported to have COVID-19 then was not even 200, while now, over four months after that, the tally of COVID-19 cases in Kerala is a whopping 18,099, with 9,420 people under treatment.
(With IANS inputs)