Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI APRIL 27—Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in August last year in protest against the scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, has said that the Central government is trying to harass him by registering an FIR against him.
A case under Section 3 of Epidemic Diseases Act and under Section 5 of the Disaster Management Act, besides under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code has been registered against him at Moti Daman Police Station of Daman and Diu on April 21.
The case has been registered on a complaint by Superintendent of Personnel, Daman & Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli, H.K. Kamble. Kamble, in his complaint has alleged that Gopinathan is not joining his duty in the wake of corona virus pandemic despite a notice sent to him on April 9 for resuming duty.
Speaking to India Tomorrow over phone, senior sub inspector Liadhar Makwana of Moti Daman Police station said that former IAS officer faces a charge under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code for not obeying the government order.
Makwana said that under the law he continued to be in service of the government as the government had yet not accepted Gopinathan’s resignation.
Investigating Officer in the case Dharmesh Dhodi, when question by this reporter, said, “We are sending a notice to Gopinathan at his residence in Kerala to seek his reply in connection with the charges levelled by the Daman and Diu administration”.
He said that he would begin proceedings with regard to interrogating Gopinathan after the lockdown was lifted.
When asked about registration of FIR, Gopinathan, who is currently living in Chennai, told Indian Tomorrow, “What the government is doing, amounts to harassment because I resigned from the service eight months back.”
“I have come to know about the FIR against me through media only. I don’t know why the FIR has been lodged. I have resigned from Indian Administrative Service eight months. It is a fact that so many officers are on leave and the government needs hands on priority basis”, he said.
Stating that he was vocal against the CAA and the proposed NRC, he said that “I may not do what the government wants me to do but as a responsible citizen, I will be happy to work for people during pandemic. But I will not go back as an IAS or government officer. I can service only as a common citizen in the interest of nation and its people without any remuneration of an IAS officer. I have taken this position because I have already resigned from the service and there is no question of joining as an IAS officer again.”
In a tweet after receiving notice from the Daman and Diu administration for rejoining his duties as an IAS officer, Gopinathan had said, “Let me clarify that I have resigned from the Indian Administrative Service close to eight months back, in August 2019, and accordingly, the government has also not processed my salary since then.”
He also said that he was under no obligation to reply. However, he said that as an ordinary citizen, he was ready to offer his services to the people of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu during the pandemic.
The 33-year-old Gopinathan’s last posting was in Dadra and Nagar Haveli as Collector.
As Gopinathan was campaigning against CAA and NRC after resigning from service, he was detained UP police in January this year at Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) airport where he had gone to attend an anti-CAA event. He was flown back to Delhi. On January 4, Gopinathan was detained at Agra when he was on his way to attend a demonstration at Aligarh Muslim University. He was released on personal bond and escorted out of Uttar Pradesh.
