This Kerala district is dumping ground for erring officials

Kasargod, the Northern district of Kerala, bordering Karnataka, has become sort of a dumping ground for erring government officials, affecting the functioning of the offices and public welfare programmes. In most cases, government servants who commit a mistake or those who fall out of love with the ruling dispensation are sent to Kasargod, one of the most underdeveloped districts in the state. 

During the tenure of UDF ministry (2011-16), as many as 159 government officers were shifted to the district as punishment. Home Department transferred 29 officers, ranging from civil police officers to DySPs to the district to teach them a lesson. Revenue Department also ‘punished’ 23 officers ranging from clerks to deputy tehsildars by sending them to Kasargod and 14 officers of Panchayat Department also ended up in the district.

Almost all offices in the district accommodate officers serving their ‘penalty period’. Though the government is transferring them as a punishment, at the end of the day, the common people of the district bear the brunt. 

On the very first day in the office at Kasargod, majority of these unhappy officers will start operations to get shifted to another district. The ‘punished’ also use their political clout to get the transfer order revoked or simply go on leave till they manage to get transferred to another place. Both ways, the normal functioning of government offices gets badly affected and the ‘reformatory’ period for the officials ultimately proves pointless.  

 People of the district are fed up being ‘punished’. The simmering discontent over turning the district into destination for errant govt. servants came to the fore during the regime of the former UDF ministry when Ramesh Chennithala, the then Home Minister, announced a punishment transfer to Kasargod through his Facebook page. Irked by the post, the public spammed his page with abusive comments to vent their anger and questioned the custom of ‘deporting’ the unwanted officials to the district.

• Kasargod
• punishment transfer
• errant officers
• Ramesh Chennithala