Govt expresses dissatisfaction;IAS officers call off CL strike

A section of IAS officers who decided to go on mass casual leave today to protest the "vindictive" attitude of Vigilance Chief Jacob Thomas, called it off after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told them that the their "agitation" cannot be justified in any manner and the government was viewing it "very seriously".
Talking to reporters after meeting representatives of IAS Officers Association, Vijayan said the government had made it clear that their action cannot be justified in any manner and their agitational path was being viewed very seriously.
"It is an action that should not have happened. Top officials at the head of the administration itself taking an agitational path cannot be justified in any manner," he said.

"An official has the right to take casual leave. But when it takes the shape of an agitation, the government has to express dissatisfaction over it," Vijayan said.
Stating that the reason for their stir was connected with probesby Vigilance, he said government's stand was it would not interfere in the anti-corruption agency's probes.
"Vigilance should carry out a free and impartial probe and that is the government's stance," he said, adding it was not the first time the agency was holding a probe against IAS officers in the state. In the past too, they had carried out investigation and even IAS officers had been suspended, he said.

However, it was natural to express emotion over the probe. But it was not correct on the part of IAS officers to resolve to go in for a stir over the issue, the CM added.

Vijayan said IAS officers who met him had said their move was not against the government, but only to express their concern. "The government accepted their statement," he added.
On allegations against Thomas, Vijayan said a Vigilance probe was held against the official before he became Vigilance Director on two-three issues and he was exonerated.
The IAS officers' move to take casual leave as a mark of protest was the culmination of a long drawn tussle between a some of them and Thomas.

They had held that Thomas was abusing his powers and the government was "protecting" him though there were reports of allegations against him.
The latest provocation was the decision of Vigilance to name senior IAS officer and Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) Paul Antony as third accused in the case related to alleged nepotism in appointment of a relative by former Industries Minister E P Jayarajan, first accused in the case.
Paul Antony is the fourth IAS officer to come under the scanner of Vigilance after K M Abraham and Tom Jose, both facing charges of having assets disproportionate to known sources of income and S Padmakumar, former managing director of state-run Malabar Cements, who was arrested for alleged irregularities in the company.