THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While leaders of political parties seek stringent action against IG Tomin J Thachankary following the Union Home Ministry’s letter to the State Government directing the same, legal experts say that the immediate option left was to suspend him once again. Though suspension is not a punishment at least such an action should be initiated against Thachankary, they say. “The fact that earlier also he had been suspended twice is not an excuse not to initiate the same against him again. That is the only immediate option left,’’ said a legal expert. They strongly argue that considering the gravity of the offence Thachankary had committed, he should be punished taking into account the larger interest of the public. Another option left is to conduct an inter-departmental inquiry. But, considering the fact that a national agency had already conducted an inquiry, it cannot be welcomed. Also, Thachankary’s offence did not relate to service issues. A section of the legal experts also feel that the government ought not have sought Union Home Ministry’s opinion on giving promotion to an officer like Thachankary. It may also be recalled that all officers belonging to the same batch do not get promoted simultaneously. However, O V Radhakrishnan, Thachankary’s counsel, said that it was not possible to take action against him. “There is no legal validity for any further action against him. He had already been punished for the violation of service rules,’’ Radhakrishnan said. But, when asked about the mention in the Home Ministry’s letter that Thachankary had accepted hospitality of a persona non grata, Radhakrishan said, “it is an unconfirmed charge.’’ Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K Jayakumar said that he had to go through the letter before commenting on the action to be initiated against Thachankary. Home Ministry’s letter to initiate action against Thachankary, who had visited Qatar in 2010 violating service rules,reached the Chief Minister’s office a couple of days back
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