M Sivasankar, whose dismissal was lifted by the administration, has been named principal secretary of the youth and sports affairs department. On January 31, 2020, he will leave the military. Following the guidelines of a disciplinary review committee, the government restored him to service last Tuesday, reversing his one-year and five-month detention. According to rule 3 of the All-India Service Rules, 1969, the committee had advised the government to lift his suspension. Sivasankar previously worked for the Sports and Youth Affairs Department as the Secretary.
Sivasankar was officially suspended on July 16, 2020, for violating service conduct standards in connection with his role in hiring Swapna Suresh, a major suspect in a gold smuggling case, to the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd’s Space Park project. The officer had also been subjected to disciplinary action by the government, which is still ongoing. The administration had prolonged his detention by another six months until it expired on July 16 last year, citing the fact that he’d been charged in a criminal proceeding.
The administration had contacted the Centre for the maintenance of his suspension order after one year had passed, but the Centre had not communicated any additional decision. The organized crime of 30 kg of gold from a diplomacy suitcase at the Trivandrum International Airport was revealed. It was revealed by the Customs Commissionerate in Kochi on July 5, 2020. Concerning the case, he was jailed. He was suspected of fraudulently recruiting Swapna Suresh. He was the crucial suspect in the investigation, to a govt agency underneath the Department of Information Technology.
A local court also granted Immigration 5 days detention of dismissed IAS official M Sivasankar. He was charged with the gold smuggling case. The gold was discovered in a diplomatic shipment addressed to a UAE Consulate official. Sarith PS, a UAE Consulate employee, was caught as a result of this.