The Local Self Government Department has decided to suspend pending inquiry a Revenue Inspector who had allegedly demanded bribe from an entrepreneur who was planning to open a bakery manufacturing unit.
Revenue Inspector Sujith Kumar, who was attached to the Thiruvanathapuram City Corporation at that time, is currently working as Superintendent at the Ramanattukara municipality.
Minister for Local Self Governments M.V.Govindan said in a press release that instructions have been issued to the Urban Affairs Director to suspend the officer. He had allegedly demanded bribe from one Jenensen, who had in 2019 submitted an application to change the building classification from residential to commercial, to open a small bakery manufacturing unit.
In a video, which he released to television channels on Saturday, the official can be seen demanding bribe for himself and some clerks in the zonal office.
Though he later managed to open the unit through the Industries department's single window clearance system, some other officials from the Corporation again came up with objections, according to him. With the COVID-19 outbreak too happening around the same time, the unit has remained closed since last year. Mr.Jenensen is currently working in a supermarket even as equipment, in which he had invested lakhs in, remain unused in the rented space.
