Govt. caught napping as key officials wrangle in public

The State government found itself in an embarrassing situation on Saturday after an ugly spat between two senior IAS officials spilled out into the public domain, with Special Secretary, Agriculture Prasanth Nair taking to the social media to attack his senior colleague Additional Chief Secretary A.

Jayathilak, accusing him of leaking official reports to the press and proclaiming himself as the next Chief Secretary.

In a Facebook post, Mr.

Nair who crossed swords with Mr.

Jayathilak over the leak of a report to the media accusing him of falsifying attendance and frequently failing to report for duty, said he was forced to reveal certain facts about his senior colleague.

Sarcastically describing Mr.

Jayathilak as a ‘special correspondent’ for leaking the report, he said he was left with no option but to discuss government files in public.

Mr.

Prasanth who was earlier the CEO of the Unnathi project for SC/ST welfare schemes during his tenure as Special Secretary, SC/ST Development, has also been blamed for the missing of critical files related to the project.

Mr.

Jayathilak has reportedly submitted a report to the Chief Minister recommending action against his junior colleague for breach of conduct.

The conflict in the top echelons of the administration has provided the Opposition with ammunition in the run up to the by elections.

In a hard hitting statement, Leader of the Opposition V.

D.

Satheesan said the Chief Minister was reduced to a helpless spectator as the bickering between key officials in the police and the administrative service came out into the open.

“The situation is akin to a vaccum in governance”, he said.

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