A. Jayathilak named new Chief Secretary of Kerala

A meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, cleared his name for the post.

Jayathilak, a 1991 batch IAS officer and presently the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, will succeed Sarada Muraleedharan, who retires from service on April 30.

Incidentally, Muraleedharan had taken over from her husband, Dr V. Venu, who retired last year.

Jayathilak, in the past, has held important posts in the state and also headed the Marine Products Development Authority of India and the Spices Board, both institutions under the Central government.

However, he faces allegations from now-suspended 2007-batch IAS officer P. Prasanth.

Prasanth was suspended last year after he made serious allegations against Jayathilak and IAS officer K. Gopalakrishnan (2013 batch), besides Muraleedharan. He has served them with legal notices, accusing them of fabricating charges and conspiring against him.

The controversy centres around an enquiry report allegedly prepared by Jayathilak, which accused Prasanth of being responsible for missing documents linked to the Unnathi project during his tenure as CEO, irregularities in his attendance records, and violations of service conduct, including making derogatory social media posts.

Prasanth, soon after he was heard by Muraleedharan last week, wrote on his Facebook page: "A case should be registered against Jayathilak, Gopalakrishnan and Mathurbhumi newspaper for conspiring against me and for making fake documents. The rule of law is also applicable to the government, and it should not behave in a manner that those aggrieved can resort to legal redress. This does not augur well for governance. Till now, I have not filed any case against the government, and please do not open an avenue for that."

The suspended officer claims that the case against him has been built on unreliable digital evidence and lacks procedural and legal merit, and blames Jayathilak and Gopalakrishnan for his suspension.