India, Feb. 28 -- The state government on Friday suspended IAS officer M Devendra Singh, who was serving as member secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), for not attending a briefing convened by environment minister Pankaja Munde.

The briefing was regarding work related to the legislative assembly and the unusually stringent action against the officer resulted from a conflict over authority between Munde and Siddesh Kadam, a Shiv Sena leader and chairperson of the MPCB, sources said.

Pro-tem speaker Dilip Lande ordered the suspension of Singh and another MPCB official on Thursday evening after Munde expressed her inability to answer a question in the assembly, citing absence of the two officials from the briefing s...