The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has initiated a disciplinary enquiry against IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan for “misconduct or misbehaviour” after Mr. Gopinathan had submitted his resignation in August citing the ‘failure’ of institutions to oppose the ‘open and brazen violation of fundamental rights’ in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Gopinathan, an IAS officer of the 2012 batch of the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre had sought voluntary retirement in protest against the Centre’s decision to impose restrictions in Kashmir in the wake of the withdrawal of special status to J&K under Article 370.
Among other charges, the MHA has accused Mr. Gopinathan of potentially “embarrassing the relations of Central government with other organisations including foreign State” by “unauthorisedly communicating with the print, electronic and social media on the issues of government policies”.
Sharing a copy of the chargesheet on Twitter, Mr. Gopinathan commented in a caption to an image of the charges: “It is your actions that creates such an image. Not my interactions. But good to know that you have been watching them. Slowly you will learn about fundamental rights. That’s the plan.”
The MHA said in its memo that the disciplinary enquiry was being initiated against Mr. Gopinathan under Rule 8 of the All India Services (Disciplinary & Appeal) Rules, 1969. The ministry, which observed that the officer’s letter of resignation was ‘under examination pending decision of the competent authority’, asked Mr. Gopinathan to give his reply to the charges within 15 days, through a “written statement of his defence”, and also to inform authorities whether he desired to be heard in person.
Mr. Gopinathan was posted as Collector, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and was holding other additional charges in the UT of Daman Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The MHA also accused the officer of adopting ‘dilatory tactics’ in discharge of his official duties and ‘insubordination’.
Published - November 06, 2019 10:04 pm IST
