Another IAS officer quits, says "democracy is being compromised"
Around two weeks after IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan resigned over the Jammu and Kashmir crisis, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district S Sasikanth Senthil also resigned from the civil services today. Senthil, a 2009 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer, stated that he felt it was "unethical" to continue in the civil services as the "democracy is being compromised." Here are more details.
Senthil said he resigned for personal reasons, and apologized to the public representatives of Dakshina Kannada district saying, "They have been extremely kind to me." Sources told The Times of India that Senthil had been on a week's leave, with the Zilla Panchayat CEO Selvamani taking the charge. His resignation came as a shock to everyone, including his personal assistant, the sources said.
In his resignation letter, Senthil stated, "I feel strongly that the coming days will present extremely difficult challenges to the basic fabric of our nation and that I would be better off outside the IAS to continue with my work at making life better for all. It simply cannot be business as usual." He added, "It simply cannot be business as usual anymore."
DK DC Senthil resigns reasons challenges to basic fabric of nation
— Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) September 6, 2019
IAS officer Gopinathan resigns over denial of freedom of expression
Spate of resignations of young officers,citing govt denial of freedom is attack on basic structure of constitution testing times for citizens pic.twitter.com/zExsqkQ859
Notably, Senthil, who hails from Tamil Nadu, became the Dakshina Kannada DC in June 2017. Earlier, he had held the position of Director in the Mines and Geology Department since November 2016. The 40-year-old was also an Assistant Commissioner in Ballari (2009-2012), Chief Executive Officer of Shivamogga Zilla Panchayat, and was the Deputy Commissioner of Chitradurga and Raichur districts for two terms.
Separately, on August 21, Kannan Gopinathan (32), an IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, resigned over the "violation of fundamental rights" of J&K residents. Kannan, a 2012-batch IAS officer, served as the secretary of the power, urban development and town and country planning of Daman & Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He was later asked to resume duty until the resignation is accepted.
In May, 2011 batch IPS officer K Annamalai had resigned as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bengaluru South). He had said that he decided to quit the service as he wanted to get back to farming and spend more time with family.
