New Delhi: An IAS officer in Kerala has been booked and suspended from duty because he travelled to his home in Uttar Pradesh despite being asked to quarantine himself after returning from Singapore.
Anupam Mishra, the sub-collector of Kollam district in Kerala, was under 14-day mandatory home quarantine from March 19 onwards to arrest the spread of the novel coronavirus. he was found missing at his home by a village-level monitoring team this week and was eventually traced through his mobile phone in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh – even though he first claimed that he was in Bengaluru observing the quarantine at a relative’s house.
“The sub-collector returned to Kollam on March 19 to join duty but was asked to go into home quarantine as a precautionary measure since he had just returned from abroad after leave. However, on Thursday, we found out that he was not in Kollam. Instead, he had reached Kanpur. He had left on March 19 itself,” Kollam Collector Abdul Nasir told NDTV.
According to The News Minute, the IAS officer had stated that he “mistook home quarantine as permission to go back home”.
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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said: “That is not a right act. We have requested those under observation to strictly follow quarantine instructions. But when a responsible officer like the sub-collector fled Kerala, it has brought disgrace to the state.”
In his inquiry report submitted to the state government on the violation committed by the Sub-collector, Kollam Collector Abdul Nasir mentioned that “this was a grave lapse from an official who is supposed to become a role model to the public.”
The Kollam West Police station has lodged an FIR against the officer. According to The News Minute, he has been booked under sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 271 (Disobedience to quarantine law) of the Indian Penal Code.
Kerala has 176 cases of coronavirus, but so far Kollam is the only district where no positive case has been reported.