Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 26: Concerned over excessive engagement of employees on social media and its serious ramifications, the Government has put several restrictions on its use by amending Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conduct Rules. Even detailed guidelines have been issued for strict compliance by all.
This step has been taken on the basis of the incidents in which the employees have vented their anger on certain issues on the social media thereby creating unwanted issues for the civil administration and security agencies. Moreover, such acts lead to breach of discipline contrary to what is expected of Government employees.
After thorough deliberations on all the aspects of use of social media by the employees, the Government has amended Jammu and Kashmir Government Employees Conduct Rules, 1971. By way of amendment carried out with the consent of the Governor, a new proviso has been added under Rule 13.
“No Government employee shall engage in any criminal, dishonest, immoral and notoriously disgraceful conduct on social media which may be prejudicial to the Government”, read the new proviso notified vide SRO-525 issued by the General Administration Department today.
“They shall also not use their personal social media accounts for any political activity or endorse the posts or tweets or blogs of any political figure and also shall not use their accounts in a matter that could reasonable be construed to imply that the Government endorses or sanctions their personal activities in any matter”, the SRO read.
The Government employees have also been barred from posting inflammatory and extraneous messages in an online community with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on topic discussion, the SRO further read.
Earlier, there was no such provision under the Employees Conduct Rules and it was simply mentioned that no Government employees shall except with the previous sanction associate himself with any newspaper or other periodical publication/radio broadcast.
Besides carrying out amendment in the Rules, the Government has also come up with the detailed guidelines, which deal with all the aspects relating to use of social media as well as action to be initiated in case of non-compliance.
“The guidelines aim at providing guidance on the correct use of social media by Government employees thereby putting a check on information flow on the social media that employees share with others which happens in a contemporaneous manner”, read the order issued by the General Administration Department. It has been mentioned that these guidelines have been framed to make a distinction between the professional and personal lives of Government employees.
“The employees must not post, comment or share public information on matters related to their work or the work of the department but must properly safeguard privileged, confidential, classified, privacy protected and/or sensitive departmental information. Moreover, they shall not tweet or share any electronic transmission”, the guidelines said.
It has also been mentioned that employees should not engage in discussion on the social media by way of tweets, status updates, posts or blogs which are political in nature or on contentious issues that are violative of the applicable Conduct Rules. “Employees must not post, update, share or promote any status or post that may be contentious or has the potential to create governance or law and order issues or are seen to propogate anything which is anti-social, anti-national or illegal”, the guidelines further said.
Moreover, the employees have been prevented from posting grievances relating to their work place on social media in any form but will follow the already established channel of complaint redressal existing in the departments, the guidelines said, adding “social media is possibly the most vital sector of the internet but being open and social creates legitimate concerns about privacy and safety”.
As the compromised social media account can be a source of important and confidential data being leaked, through the guidelines the employees have also been made aware about the threats of identity theft, use of third party apps, connecting with strangers and above all various security related aspects.
It has been mentioned in the guidelines that Government will monitor the social media to track violations and will maintain official records of violations that contain certain data related to social media activity of Government employees. “The Government employees should adhere to the guidelines to ensure against disciplinary action and consequent punishment as per J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956”, the guidelines said, adding “in case the violation involves an offence under law it will attract necessary legal action”.
As per J&K Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956, the penalties like censure, fine, withholding of increments/promotion, reduction to a lower post, recovery from pay, premature retirement and dismissal from services can be imposed on the employees.
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