IAS officer N. Prasanth, who was reinstated in service in early June after being placed under suspension in November 2024 for levelling allegations against the then Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak, carried out a veiled attack on Mr. Jayathilak the day he superannuated from service.
The social media post did not name Mr. Jayathilak but carried his photograph.
In the post, Mr. Prasanth referred to the ephemeral nature of power. Those walking the halls of power often forgot that power was ephemeral. They were convinced that they were indispensable till the time they were thrown away like an old file.
Referencing Poonthanam’s Jnanappana, Bhagavad Gita, and the Gospel of Matthew, the 2007 Kerala cadre officer wrote that the greed for power was worse than that for money. The lesson such power-hungry people taught the next generation was that official positions should not be attained on merit but by helping the powerful in their illegal activities.
Farewells whitewashed arrogance as administrative firmness and corruption as efficiency, Mr. Prasanth wrote.
The future generations should be able to distinguish between the good and the bad. No one should define fear as respect, silence for consent, and failure to be caught as innocence. Even if personal forgiveness is given, action must be taken for violation of law, he wrote.
The last government extended Mr. Prasanth’s suspension as he continued to make social media posts allegedly discrediting senior officials.
Published – June 30, 2026 10:07 pm IST