Revoke G.K. Dwivedi's suspension in Zakir Naik FCRA matter: IAS Association to DOPT

NEW DELHI: The Central IAS Association has urged the Centre to immediately review and revoke the suspension of Home Ministry Joint Secretary G.K. Dwivedi. The IAS Association took Dwivedi’s case to the Minister of State for PMO and DoPT, Jitendra Singh on Sunday.
Dwivedi has been suspended following the renewal of the FCRA registration of the NGO of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik -- IAS officers working as Joint Secretaries in the Home Ministry had earlier pleaded Dwivedi’s case to Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The DoPT led by Singh had approved MHA’s recommendation to put Dwivedi under suspension. “The Association requested the Government to immediately review the case of G.K. Dwivedi who has been placed under suspension for no fault of his, which has led to demoralization in the rank and file of the officers working in the Central Secretariat and hence the suspension should be revoked. Dwivedi is known for his integrity and hard work and in his last two years of his tenure he has implemented about 17 important initiatives of the government,” the association said in its memorandum to the Singh. It is believed Singh did not give any immediate assurance on this.

The Association also pointed to cases of retired government servants like Shyamlal Ghosh, P.C. Parakh, H.C. Gupta, Veena Rao and few others to stress bringing changes to the Prevention of Corruption Act and extending protection to both the working and retired officers, irrespective of the Service he or she belongs to.

“The Association expressed its concern that due to lack of legal protection and due to inadequacy in law, the officers, both retired and serving, are facing great difficulties apart from huge financial loss in fighting the cases and also the social stigma,” the Association said. The Minister assured the delegation that changes in the Prevention of Corruption Act were already on the anvil with a bill to that effect pending in the Parliament. “There is a need to protect the honest and sincere officers for taking bonafide decisions in public interest so that they don’t feel shy or edgy in taking bold and innovative decisions,” the IAS Assocation said.