In what may be a first in the State, a senior serving Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officer, K. Mathai, has lodged a complaint before the Karnataka Lokayukta against what he terms an “IAS mafia” in the State that he alleges has been harassing him. Mr. Mathai has named four IAS officers — two Additional Chief Secretaries and two Principal Secretary-rank officials — in his complaint.
Mr. Mathai had submitted the complaint to Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia on April 10, and on Wednesday, he submitted it to Lokayukta Justice P. Vishwanath Shetty. “The Lokayukta has jurisdiction over grievance redressal in the State. Since there is no separate grievance redressal forum for government officials, I had to seek redressal from the Lokayukta,” he said, defending his action.
Mr. Mathai, in his complaint, has listed a series of instances of how he was being targeted and harassed — multiple transfers, salary being held up, and not being given a vehicle in his present posting as Administrative Officer, Sakala Mission. He has alleged that the harassment was a result of exposing a senior IAS officer’s role in an illegal advertisement scam in the city in 2015. He also said other IAS officers were working as a “mafia” and harassing him.
Departmental enquiry
He has alleged that a proposal for a departmental enquiry (DE) against him first proposed in 2012 was kept pending for five years, though rules stipulate that a DE should be completed within three months. “The proposal for DE was closed following orders by the Revenue Minister. But the DE has been re-opened again to harass me,” he has alleged. The DE has now been stayed by the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, he added. He alleged that the reopening of the DE was just one of the ways he was being targeted by the “IAS mafia”.
He has named a former BBMP Commissioner for making an adverse remark against him in the Annual Confidential Report (ACR), following the exposure of the Commissioner’s role in the ₹2,000-crore illegal advertisement scam that he uncovered during his stint in the BBMP. This, he alleged, has delayed his promotion, which is long overdue.
Mr. Mathai further alleges that a senior official harassed him by not providing him a vehicle and threatening him to opt out of Sakala Mission and take over a position at the Institute of Social and Economic Change. He alleged that the IAS officers were acting like a “mafia” and harassing officials who were honest. “With no vent or grievance redressal platform within the bureaucracy, officials like [DySP] M.K. Ganapathy and others are being driven to suicide. If the rot is not stemmed now, this will be a regular feature in the future,” he said.
Neither of the four senior IAS officials named nor Mr. Khuntia were available for comment.
