Are government servants allowed to speak to media? Allahabad High Court asks State

The Allahabad High Court recently said that it has become a trend among the government servants including those in the Central government to freely and casually speak to media [Adarsh Kumar vs State of UP & 5 Others]..Justice JJ Munir asked the State to apprise it of whether there is any prohibition against it under the service rules and directed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Personnel to indicate the steps taken to train the younger generation of government servants so that they are not tempted to impromptu speak to the media, in case any such prohibition exists under the rules..The Court was hearing a government employee’s petition challenging the department proceedings against him. While refraining from commenting on the contents of what was spoken by the petitioner to media, the Court flagged the prevailing trend among government officers.“This Court notices that there is a general trend amongst government servants of the present day of all ranks, including those in the Central Services serving the State cadre, of casually and freely speaking to the media. The District Collectors and the District Superintendent of Police are freely seen speaking and interacting with media. Likewise, is the case with government servants employed in connection with the affairs of the State and those serving further down in the hierarchy,” the single-judge said. .He further stated unless there has been a change to the conduct rules which existed earlier, “this kind of freedom” would not be there for government servants to speak to the media on their own.One of the reasons why the government servants were not earlier allowed to freely speak to the media was that they should not be seen coming up with contradictory stands on the same issue, the Court added.“It (State) must speak through an authorized spokesperson, may be someone from the public relation department or a designated officer from the particular establishment or department,” the Court stressed..While listing the matter for consideration on May 3, the Court asked the Additional Chief Secretary of Department of Personnel to file an affidavit within a week on the information sought. Advocate Anubhav Srivastava represented the petitioner..[Read Order]