Jacob Thomas was suspended in 2017 by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after he criticised the government for not extending timely help to communities affected by Cyclone Ockhi.

In a setback to the Kerala government, the Central Administrative Tribunal has ordered the reinstatement of Jacob Thomas, one of the top cops of the state. Thomas was suspended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in 2017 after he slammed the government over law and order issues when the state was battling the aftereffects of Cyclone Ockhi. The officer’s suspension was later extended after a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) alleged that Thomas was involved in the corruption scandal when he was the director of the ports department in the state. 
Hearing a petition filed by Jacob Thomas himself, the tribunal stated that a top officer cannot remain suspended forever and ordered the government to reinstate him on an immediate basis. According to reports, the tribunal also accepted Thomas’s claims that he was being targeted by the state government. 
“I have been fighting against corruption for a very long time now. I have been taking action and fighting back against corruption since 2003 when I was the Joint Transport Commissioner. In 2017, following the Ockhi cyclone, I was suspended for raising a concern about fisherfolk and other affected communities not receiving timely aid. I was also suspended for the two books I had written which were published by DC and Current Books…it’s been a flood of suspensions,” he told Asianet News.