Jammu, Mar 24: J&K government employees will invite disciplinary action if they are found “criticising any policy or action taken by the government” or “communicating official information” without authorization, “disseminating wrong or misleading information” or expressing “political or communal views” etc. on social media.
Any such activity by the officials, “under their real or assumed identities”, will tantamount to misconduct and invite action under the relevant rules.
These instructions form part of the circular, issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) on Friday, reiterating “guidelines already notified regarding use of social media for compliance by the government employees” of the Union Territory of J&K.
“No government employee shall himself or herself or through any person dependent on him or 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,” guidelines mentioned.
However, the government sought to clarify that the guidelines were not intended to “dissuade employees or departments from using social media for positive and constructive purposes.”
All Administrative Secretaries, Deputy Commissioners, Heads of Departments and Managing Directors have been asked to immediately proceed against the employees working in their departments or offices who are found to have violated the guidelines and rules, in terms of the relevant disciplinary framework.
Further, in case of a violation committed on a group platform, the ‘Administrator’, if they are serving government or semi-government employees, will also be liable for disciplinary proceedings.
Reiteration of guidelines vis-à-vis the engagement of J&K government employees on social media has been made in compliance with the directions issued by the Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta in a meeting held on February 17, 2023.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary had directed all the Administrative Secretaries to “identify the employees criticising or commenting adversely on the government policies or achievements on social media and issue notices to them.”
The Chief Secretary had issued these directions while expressing concern and had also directed the General Administration Department (GAD) to issue a circular in this regard.
“It was observed that some government employees are openly criticising or commenting adversely on the government policies or achievements etc., on social media platforms. Chief Secretary directed all Administrative Secretaries to monitor the social media networks on regular basis and identify the employees criticising or commenting adversely on the government policies or achievements etc. on the social media and issue notices to these employees under intimation to the General Administration Department,” the minutes of the meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary on February 17 too had mentioned.
In compliance with the direction of the Chief Secretary, the guidelines regarding use of social media by the government employees have been reiterated through a circular by GAD.
“Despite the elaborate guidelines and governing legal framework, it has been observed that government servants often engage themselves with social media in a manner which is in contravention to these rules. While using different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or instant messaging applications like WhatsApp and Telegram, employees have been seen to air disparaging views on subjects that they are expressly barred under rules to comment upon. Employees have been seen to comment or act or behave in a manner that does not conform to the acceptable standards of official conduct, as envisaged in the already notified guidelines and the rules,” observed GAD Commissioner Secretary Sanjeev Verma.
Specifying “barred activities”, Verma stated that such actions “range from unauthorised communication of official information and or or dissemination of patently wrong or misleading information, airing of political or communal views etc. under their real or assumed identities.”
“In view of this, it has been felt expedient to reiterate the main features of guidelines already notified regarding use of social media for compliance by the government employees,” Verma explained the rationale of the renewed circular-instructions.
In this context, he referred to the Sub-rule (3) of Rule 13, rule 18 of Jammu and Kashmir Employees Conduct Rules, 1971; Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India; Section 66-A of The Information Technology Act. Verma, in the circular, also mentioned Rule 30 (dealing with punishment for violation of specified guidelines) of The Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956.
As per the renewed guidelines, the employees, directly or indirectly, will not publish, post or release any information on social media that is considered confidential or that is not meant for public dissemination, nor will 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 or she, in any manner, participate in any such discussion or criticism on social media pages or communities or microblogs,” it was instructed.
No government employee can 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.
Meanwhile, it has been clarified that a government employee may, for the purpose of removing misapprehensions, correcting mis-statements, and refuting disloyal and seditious propaganda, defend and explain to the public the policy of government in his posts and tweets on social media. However, they (government employees) can 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.
No government employee will 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.
“Government employees shall not indulge in sharing or 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,” it has been specified.
“It is accordingly enjoined upon all employees working in various government departments or PSUs or Corporations or Boards or Autonomous Bodies to strictly adhere to the guidelines and legal principles reproduced and issued vide Government Order mentioned and refrain from indulging in unwarranted debates or discussions and sharing or commenting or posting inappropriate posts or content on social media platforms,” Verma cautioned.