The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday issued fresh social media guidelines for its government employees working in the region warning them against discussion or criticism of the policies pursued by the government on social media pages, and communities of microblogs, among others.
While citing the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Conduct Rules, 1971, the information technology ACT, 2000, the Jammu and Kashmir Civil services Rules, 1956, and reasonable restrictions on the right to freedom of speech under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India, stated that if employees are found involved in such activities, warned them with ‘disciplinary action ’ for non-compliance of the instructions.
“No government employee shall engage in posting, tweeting or sharing content that is political or anti-secular and communal in nature or subscribe to any pages, communities or Twitter handles and blogs of such nature,” the circular read.
The administration stated that despite guidelines and rules already existing in the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Conduct Rules, 1971, it has been noticed that government employees often get engaged with social media in a manner that is in contravention of these rules.
“While on different social media platforms, like Twitter, Facebook Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram etc, employees have been seen to air disparaging views on subjects that they are expressly barred under rules to comment upon”, the order reads.
The order further states that the government employees have been observed to comment that does not conform to the acceptable standards of official conduct, as envisaged in the existing guidelines and the rules.
“Such actions range from unauthorised communication of official information and/or dissemination of patently wrong or misleading information, airing of political or communal views etc. under their real or assumed identities,” the order reads.
As per the government order, it was decided that it would be best to reiterate the primary aspects of the guidelines that had been communicated to government employees regarding their use of social media in order to ensure compliance.
- Employees, directly or indirectly, shall not publish, post or release any information on social media that is considered confidential or that is not meant for public dissemination, nor shall they pass any official document or any part thereof to any Government employee or any such person to whom he is not authorized to communicate such document or information.
- No Government employee shall, through any post, tweet or otherwise, discuss or criticize on social media, any policy pursued or action taken by the Government, nor shall he/she, in any manner, participate in any such discussion or criticism on social media pages/communities/ microblogs.
III. No Government employee shall post, tweet or share content that is political or anti-secular and communal in nature or subscribe to pages, communities or twitter handles and blogs of such nature.
- No Government employee shall himself/herself or through any person dependent on him/her for maintenance, or under his care or control, undertake any such activity on social media which is, or tends directly or indirectly to be, subversive of the Government as by law established in the Country or in the Union territory.
- A Government employee may, for the purpose or removing misapprehensions, correcting misstatements, and refuting disloyal and seditious propaganda, defend and explain to the public the policy of Government in his posts and tweets on social media.
- Government employees shall not post on social media, any such content or comments about co-workers or individuals, that are vulgar, obscene, threatening, intimidating or that violate the conduct rules or employees.
VII. No Government employee shall post grievances pertaining to their workplace on social media in the form of videos, posts, tweets or blogs or in any other form, but will follow the already established channels of complaint redressal existing in the departments.
VIII. Government employees shall not indulge in sharing/partaking in so-called giveaways and contests on social media platforms, which are actually scams in disguise, as they could unknowingly spread malware or trick people into giving away sensitive data by sharing it on their profiles.
The government order also clarified that the above guidelines are not intended to dissuade employees/departments from using social media for ‘positive’ and ‘constructive’ purposes.
“It is accordingly enjoined upon all employees working in various government departments/PSUs/Corporations/Boards/Autonomous Bodies etc. to strictly adhere to the guidelines and legal principles reproduced herein above and issued vide Government Order and refrain from indulging in unwarranted debates/discussions and sharing/commenting/posting inappropriate posts/content on social media platforms,” the order says.
It further warns employees that any violation of these guidelines/ rules shall be tantamount to misconduct and invite disciplinary action against the delinquent official under the relevant rules.
“All Administrative Secretaries/Deputy Commissioners/Heads of Departments/Managing Directors shall immediately proceed against the employees working in their departments/offices who are found to have violated the aforesaid guidelines and rules, in terms of the relevant disciplinary framework,” the order reads.
Former J&K chief minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti slammed the government and called the circular a ‘complete violation of the fundamental rights of people.’
“Whether it was blacklisting contractors & the social media gag to employees, a clear intimidation of dispossessing people in J&K of their livelihood has emerged. Authorities have become judge, jury & executioner in complete violation of the fundamental rights of people,” she tweeted.
The fresh social media guidelines have been announced after the suspension of several governmental employees for criticizing the government,
Earlier, a police constable was suspended for social media posts and in a recent Fsuch incident, a school teacher was suspended in Ramban district for allegedly criticizing government policies on his social media handle.
