Pathanamthitta: The Munnar trip by majority of the staff at Konni Taluk Office by taking mass leave on a working day is turning into a major controversy with K U Jenish Kumar, Member of the Legislative Assemby (MLA) from the area, raising serious allegations.
According to the MLA, the Taluk Office staff had gone for the trip in a bus owned by a quarry owner. Kumar also demanded a probe into the circumstances of organising the trip. He also wondered whether a quarry owner was higher in hierarchy than people’s representatives and government officers.
MLA's intervention in the issue seems to brought the division between CPM and CPI out in the open.
While CPI slammed the Jenish's intervention as immature, CPM backed the MLA and said he was right and said that his position is above that of Additional District Magistrate (ADM).
ADM has been asked to give report on the mass leave on Saturday.
Earlier, the MLA had inspected the attendance register at the Taluk Office on Friday, sparking the row. The MLA’s action was questioned by the ADM (Additional District Magistrate) and Kumar reacted strongly. “Visiting houses where a death has taken place and attending weddings are not the only duties of an MLA,” said Kumar.
“An MLA has the power to inspect any document which is not of a confidential nature. The ADM, instead of addressing the lapse of the Taluk Office staff, is trying to evaluate the duties of an MLA,” said Kumar.
“A complaint will be filed with the Minister and the Chief Minister against the ADM,” said the Konni MLA.
Meanwhile, it is also alleged that even though the union leaders had collected Rs 3,000 from each employee who went on the trip, the resort where they had stayed in Munnar had provided free accommodation based on the recommendation of the quarry owner.
Of late, complaints have been rampant against Revenue Department employees in Pathanamthitta district. They often act irresponsibly as nobody has disciplined them for wrongdoings. Some most recent incidents in this regard include the death of a man during a mock drill and leaking an appointment order through WhatsApp. Even though probes took place into both incidents, no disciplinary action was taken against the guilty officials. It is alleged that the intervention of union leaders had prevented top officials in the Revenue Department from initiating action.
In the latest incident, of the 60 employees at taluk office, 35 – including the tahsildar and deputy tahsildar – failed to turn up for work on Friday. On receiving a complaint in this regard, the MLA arrived at the office and inspected the attendance register. Incidentally, the Minister had announced a meeting on Friday to discuss issues related to regional tourism to which the tahsildar too was asked to attend. However, the tahsildar informed the MLA that he would not be able to attend due to some other official duties.
CPI justifies mass leave
Justifying the mass leave, CPI State Secretary Kanam Rajendran said employees are entitled to take leave. "This is not a political issue. Let the government look into what happened and take action," he said.
CPI district secretary A P Jayan said that the MLA could have tasked the collector to investigate the mass leaves. But he refused to condone or oppose MLA's decision to visit the taluk office.
CPI Pathanamthitta district assistant secretary P R Gopinathan said that the MLA should not have taken over the duty of Konni tehsildar. "That was immature," he said.
"The MLA's approach painted a picture that there was something wrong with the revenue department and the government. We will convey out opoosition to the CPM and the LDF," he added.
