The State government has reportedly turned down senior bureaucrat M. Sivasankar's request for voluntary retirement.
By one account, Chief Secretary V.P. Joy had declined the officer's plea based on legal advice received by the government.
The former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had come under a cloud after the Customs implicated him in the politically stormy UAE consulate-linked gold smuggling case.
Mr. Sivasankar's alleged association with some persons involved in the criminal enterprise had brought the Customs and Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigations into the international racket to the doorstep of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) during the tenure of the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
The controversy had also catalysed a recriminatory campaign against Mr. Vijayan. The Congress and Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) had relied on media leaks to put the LDF government on the backfoot in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
However, the apparent propaganda advantage for the opposition parties on the campaign trail did not translate into votes. The LDF romped back to power with an enhanced vote share.
The previous LDF government had, in July 2020, suspended Mr. Sivasankar from service after an internal enquiry found that he had allegedly lobbied for the appointment of Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold case, in a State-run entity.
The investigation also concluded that Mr. Sivasankar had violated All India Service rules by allegedly championing the appointment of a person in the paid service of a foreign entity, among other charges.
Later in October 2020, the Customs arrested Mr. Sivasankar. He served nearly 100 days in a Sub Jail in Kochi as a remand prisoner.
The bureaucrat was arguably for long the face of the CMO. His arrest and protracted incarceration on the charge of abetting gold smugglers were widely seen in bureaucratic and political circles as a tragic fall from grace. Mr. Sivasankar has contested the charges against him and denied any involvement.
Customs enforcers at the cargo section of the Thiruvananthapuram airport had found that Gulf-based racketeers had channelled trade quantities of gold to Kerala via the UAE consulate's diplomatic channel.
It had intercepted a cargo consignment addressed to consulate officials and found contraband gold concealed in hollow pipes.
