Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been reportedly told that Director General of Police Jacob Thomas failed to submit his controversial book for governmental vetting prior to its publication.
In the process, the former head of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau could have potentially violated the All India Service (AIS) Conduct Rules, 1968.
Titled Shravukalkkoppam Neenthumpol (Swimming with Sharks), the book had drawn brickbats from the Opposition for “portraying” former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in poor light.
Mr. Vijayan, who was scheduled to release the book on Monday, backtracked at the last minute after he received a petition from Congress legislator K.C. Joseph accusing Mr. Thomas of conduct unbecoming of a ranking police officer.
Subsequently, Mr. Vijayan tasked Chief Secretary Nalini Netto to look into the matter.
Had sought permission
Ms. Netto’s report to the CM remained largely secret. However, officials privy to the classified information said Mr. Thomas had sought permission to write a book in October 2016. Despite a reminder from the Chief Secretary, Mr. Thomas “failed” to reveal the contents of his composition.
They said All India Service (AIS) (Conduct) Rules, 1968, permitted officers to write articles or publish books without prior sanction if their subject matter was purely literary, artistic, or scientific in nature.
However, the conduct rules took a starkly different and harsh view of works that revealed “sensitive information” or “disclosures” that could be deemed embarrassing or damaging to other officers or the State.
Such material required to be submitted for critical examination prior to publication. Those officials deemed to be violators of the rule could be penalised under the relevant provisions of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and Pension rules.
Senior bureaucrats who perused the book at the behest of the government have “reported” more than a “score of paragraphs” that could be construed as violation of AIS conduct rules.
Mr. Thomas’s book is purportedly a revelatory tale of his days in high office.
Disclosures
The media spotlighted the book on the eve of its release because of certain “disclosures” pertaining to the period when Mr. Thomas headed the Vigilance. His allegedly oblique hint that Mr. Chandy could have attempted to influence the politically sensitive investigations against former Ministers K.M. Mani and K. Babu had drawn the ire of the Opposition.
