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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court recently took judicial notice of the State's district level officials occasionally having their official activities recorded by the media, resulting in videos with sensational titles.

"It is the duty of the Government to see that no such videos and other media profiles of government service appear either on the social media or in the form of video channels or in the print media," said the court. 

The observations were made in a plea filed by a government servant challenging the departmental proceedings initiated against him over his statements made before the media.

Previously, the high court had ordered the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Personnel, Government of U.P., Lucknow to file his own affidavit 'generally indicating what the service rules now say about government servants speaking to the media'.

On May 3, 2024, the bench of Justice JJ Munir expressed 'dissatisfaction' with the affidavit filed by the Secretary (Personnel), Government of U.P., Lucknow.

Court emphasised that it had not asked the Secretary to merely furnish a compilation of the Service Rules governing the conduct of government servants in their interaction with public and social media. "The Secretary must remember that the Court is aware of what the law and the Service Rules are," it said. 

Court clarified that instead, it desired to impress upon the Secretary that on a regular basis, officers on different positions in the field are made conscious of the issues that they face due to non-observance of conduct rules and the other service rules applicable to them.

"They interact freely with the media and also post on social media," the single judge bench highlighted. 

Furthermore, referring to paragraph 8 of the affidavit, court said that "what the officers are taught in the training schools is a very casual kind of exercise, of which the high court is always aware".

"A lecture delivered to newly recruited government servants, whether of the State Services or the Central Services coming from the mouth of a trainer, a resource person or a senior officer acting as such, may have little impact, unless in the field, there is a living reminder of the obligation. A new recruit in the training school may not even appreciate the application of what he is being taught," it stressed.

Therefore, court directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Personnel), Government of U.P., Lucknow to file a further and better affidavit within a week. 

The matter will be next taken up on May 10, 2024. 

Case Title: Adarsh Kumar v. State Of Up And 5 Others