Retired IAS officer M. Madan Gopal has written to the Cabinet Secretary and the Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the Central government, on deputing 30 IAS officers for a political meeting and sought an appropriate inquiry into the matter. He said deputing IAS officers for political events was a clear violation of Rule 5(1) of IAS Conduct Rules.
In the letter, Mr. Gopal said, “Even if the State government declared those political leaders attending a political conference as State guests, it’s beyond anyone’s imagination how and why serving officers are directed to do protocol duties for a programme that is not any official programme but purely political.”
Mr. Gopal, who retired as the Additional Chief Secretary in Karnataka, also tweeted and addressed the tweet to the President of India and the Prime Minister. “Though there is clear violation of Rule 5(1) of AIS Conduct Rules, I understand the dilemma of serving officers who are pushed into a devil and deep sea situation as any disobedience of orders from the Chief Minister of State will put their career in jeopardy,” he said.
