Supreme Court discontinues disciplinary proceedings against IAS Officer

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered to discontinue the disciplinary proceedings which were initiated by the Kerala government against state cadre IAS officer B Ashok for writing an article in the newspaper in support of Narendra Modi's visit to attend the silver jubilee of the Sivagiri Madhom. He was the Chief Minister of Gujarat back then.

A bench of Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Mahohar Sapre stayed the disciplinary proceedings as senior counsel K V Vishwanathan told the bench that the merely writing an article in a newspaper could not be construed as a breach of All India Services (conduct) Rules, 1968.

Ashok in his article had said that there should not be any opposition to Modi visiting the Sivagiri Madhom, a visit that Modi eventually undertook after becoming the Prime Minister.

Kerala government considered it as the violations of the guidelines issued by the governor in the matter of writing the articles in the newspaper.

The invite to Prime Minister was opposed because of the political reason as the Lok Sabha elections were nearing. PM Modi who was also denied the US visa for many years, has faced such protest multiple times. Recently Jamia Millia Islamia University students protested against the varsity's invite to the PM.(IANS)