Senior IAS officer and former Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K. Gnanadesikan and Commissioner of Geology and Mining Atul Anand were on Monday suspended along with six other government officials, pending an inquiry into certain charges allegedly linked to “beach sand mining” in the southern districts.
While three of the suspended officials belong to the Geology and Mining Department, three others were working in the Environment Department, including the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
Mr. Gnanadesikan, who was Chief Secretary for about one-and-a-half years till early June when P. Rama Mohana Rao replaced him, was holding the post of Chairman and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) in the rank of Additional Chief Secretary.
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Mr. Atul Anand was serving as Managing Director of Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT).
While the State government did not spell out the reasons for their suspension, one IAS officer claimed that action was taken against them for reportedly endorsing a report of a panel of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which gave a clean chit to beach mining firms during a joint inspection in April 2015.
This was in variance with the findings of a State inquiry committee, headed by IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi in 2013.
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The joint inspection report came into focus on Monday when leading beach sand mining baron S. Vaikundarajan of V.V. Minerals cited it in his defence in a statement released to the media against the backdrop of his brother V.S. Kumaresan alleging massive illegal mining by the firm at a press conference a day earlier.
Meanwhile, a delegation of officers of the Indian Administrative Service met the Chief Secretary, P. Rama Mohan Rao, in Chennai on Tuesday and expressed their “concerns” over the suspensions.