IAS officer quits, says "disturbed" over restrictions in J&K

August 25, 2019 11:01

A 33-year-old Indian Administrative Service officer said he has filed his papers to quit the coveted government job. While stating his reasons, IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan said one of them was denial of "fundamental rights" to lakhs of people in Jammu and Kashmir for weeks after special status was scrapped from the state earlier this month.

"...Not that my resignation will cause anything even worth a flutter. But one has one's own conscience to answer to, I guess," Gopinathan was quoted as saying to NDTV.

Gopinathan, a secretary of key departments in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, was instrumental in transforming a loss-making government electricity distribution firm into a profit-making one.

"In (Jammu and) Kashmir, fundamental rights of lakhs of people have been suspended for 20 days. And many in India seem to be okay with it. This is happening in India in 2019. Article 370 or its abrogation is not the issue, but denying citizens their right to respond to it, is the main issue. They could welcome the move or protest it, that's their right," Mr Gopinathan told NDTV, adding this issue "disturbed" him enough to resign.

An IAS officer for seven years, Gopinathan gave his resignation on August 21.

"Even when a former IAS officer was detained from the airport, there was a complete lack of response from civil society. It seems like most in this country are okay with this," said Gopinathan, referring to how IAS officer-turned-activist Shah Faesal was sent back to Srinagar from Delhi airport while he was about to take a flight abroad.

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