With suspended Kerala IAS officer N Prasanth (IAS:2007:KL) bringing new charges against Chief Secretary A Jayathilak (IAS:1991:KL) for allegedly tampering with files and fabricating documents in the state’s e-office system, the battle among Kerala’s IAS top brass has taken a new turn. Prasanth accused backroom exploitation of official e-office accounts to illegally access files and stifle dissenting ideas in a strongly written Facebook post. He stated that he initially discovered Jayathilak tampering with paperwork on March 12, 2024, and has since made public what he claims is evidence to support his allegations.
Prasanth claimed that fake documents were being utilised to give the impression that officers had viewed and cleared files that they had never really handled. He claimed that in addition to being a flagrant violation of the IT Act, which is punishable by law, this also compromised the openness of important decisions involving millions of rupees.
After making similar accusations against Jayathilak, who was the Additional Chief Secretary at the time, Prasanth has been suspended since November 2024. A two-member panel was recently established by the state government on July 22 to look into the complaints made against Prasanth. With his latest salvo, sources say the inquiry panel now faces a tougher challenge.
The suspended officer explicitly referenced an instance in which his written opinion on a confidential document was purportedly removed in order to keep it from getting to the relevant minister. The manipulation gave the appearance of a consensus file when, in fact, he had opposed it, Prasanth charged. “This was a deliberate attempt to mislead the minister by replacing facts with falsehoods and paving the way for corruption.”
Prasanth also took issue with the way his previous complaints were handled, claiming that responses to his Right to Information (RTI) requests made false claims that there was no complaint and no investigation was in progress.
He said that because of evidence provided by the IT department, he already had official records that contradicted the RTI response. “With corruption and conspiracy being treated as an ‘insult’ is the RTI Act itself being made inapplicable in Kerala?” he asked. Chief Secretary A Jayathilak is yet to explain his stance on the quagmire.
With Prasanth and the state’s top bureaucrat at loggerheads once more, the controversy has escalated into a bitter dispute within the IAS fraternity, putting the administration and the investigation panel in a very precarious position.
Join Us on WhatsApp