The Jammu Kashmir administration has issued an order asking the Government employees to not criticize any policies of the Government
In a copy of an order titled, ‘Use of social media by the Government Employees of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir’ of which a copy is available with The Kashmiriyat, the admin said, No Government employee shall, by any utterance, writing or otherwise discuss or criticize in public or in any meeting of any association or body any policy pursued or action taken by the Government nor shall he in any manner participate in any such discussion or criticism.
“No Government employee shall, in any radio broadcast or in any document published in his own name or anonymously, pseudonymously or in the name of any other person or in any communication to the press or in any public utterance make any statement of fact or opinion, which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Government of India, Government of Jammu Kashmir or any other State Government; which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Government of Jammu Kashmir and the Government of India or the Government of any other State in India,” the order read.
“While using different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. or Instant Messaging applications like WhatsApp, Telegram etc., employees have been seen to air disparaging views on subjects that they are expressly barred under rules to comment upon,” read the official notice.
It further read, 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 aforementioned guidelines and the rules. Such actions range from unauthorized 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.
In view of the foregoing, 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:
i. 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.
ii. 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. iv. No Government employee shall himself/herself or through any person dependent on him/her for maintenance, or under his care or control.