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IAS officer transferred for consenting to participate in Dalit Panthers function

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Bureaucrats in Kerala appear demoralised after the Communist-led government took severe action against many of them. Though the government has suspended more than half a dozen Indian Administrative Service officers since assuming power in May 1996, the investigating agency was unable to take them to court.

Those who were suspended and later reinstated by the government include Rural Development Secretary Amitabh Kant, Public Relations Department Director K Mohanty and Nirmithi Kendra Director Anand Bose. They were reinstated recently with plum posts.

The charge against Amitabh Kant was alleged favouritism in the sale of land as collector of Kozhikode. K Mohanty was allegedly involved in irregularities in financial deals as managing director of Malabar Cements at Kanjikode in Palakkad. Former chief secretary R Ramachandran, accused of irregularities in the purchase of land for the Sanskrit University -- which he headed for a couple of years - is still under investigation.

As many as 3,966 vigilance cases have been slapped against government employees since May 1996. Several employees allege that many of these cases are politically motivated.

The latest to taste the government's wrath is Home Secretary L Natarajan. He was removed from the home department because he had consented to speak at a function organised by the Dalit Panthers to honour an Afro-American team led by Runko Rashidi.

Senior officials are cut up about his removal from the top post since a government order issued in 1970 clearly states that Dalit officers are free to attend meetings organised by their respective communities.

Moreover, Rashidi did not attend the reception following the controversy. He had communicated his position to the government last Friday.

Rashidi has addressed several public functions in other parts of the country. On a visit to India to attend Ambedkar Jayanti, he was to attend a meeting in Kerala besides paying homage to Ayyankali and Sree Narayana Guru -- two famous social reformers.

Various Dalit and human rights organisations have protested against Natarajan's transfer, saying it showed the fascist face of the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front. The government removed Natarajan without issuing him a show cause notice.

The Kerala Dalit Panthers, who organised the reception, has strongly criticised the government action. Dalit Panthers state president K Ambujakshan said his organisation would launch an agitation against the Nayanar government's "anti-fascist attitude.

He said Natarajan's removal, though the home secretary did not attend the function, clearly indicated the government's intentions.

The Confederation of Human Rights Organisations, Kerala, has called upon the LDF and state CPI-M secretary Pinarayi Vijyan to clarify if preventing the Afro-American team from attending a public function at Thiruvananthapuram was part of the 'apartheid' introduced by the LDF government.

The action against Natarajan may hasten the exodus of civil servants from Kerala. More than a dozen IAS and IPS officers have opted for central government postings.

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