Karnataka: Government school teacher suspended for social media post criticising Siddaramaiah

The teacher was critical of the newly-elected government and expressed his views both on the government and its welfare schemes. “What else can you do without giving freebies?” Shanthamurthy asked in his post.

In his post, Shanthamurthy claimed that size of debt during the tenures of earlier chief ministers was far lesser tha Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure.

In a post that he shared, claims of debt during the tenure of former chief minister SM Krishna said it was ₹3,590 crore, Dharam Singh (₹15,635 crore), HD Kumaraswamy (₹3,545 crore), BS Yeddiyurappa (₹25,653 crore), DV Sadananda Gowda (₹9,464 crore), Jagadish Shettar (₹13,464 crore), while it was ₹2,42,000 crore during Siddaramaiah’s tenure.

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‘Violated Service Conduct Rules’

The suspension order passed by the Education Department said that Shanthamurthy had violated government service rules by making critical remarks on the new government and its chief minister even as Siddaramaiah was taking oath on Saturday.

Deputy Director of Public Instructions (DDPI) Chitradurga, Ravishankara Reddy told South First: “The school teacher violated government service conduct rules. His job is to teach students. He cannot comment on people who are sitting at the helm of political affairs. Soon after we got to know that he has posted on Facebook, we asked the field education officer to conduct a (preliminary) inquiry into the incident.”

Reddy added: “An inquiry officer will now be named and a formal inquiry will be conducted within six months and suitable action will be taken against the school teacher.”

The Field Education Officer L Jayappa issued the suspension order to Shanthamurthy on Saturday itself.

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Suspension draws public, Opposition ire

The suspension of the government school teacher over a mere social media post has led to citizens and Opposition parties criticising the newly-formed Congress government under Siddaramaiah.

“It is as if nobody is even allowed to criticise the Congress government. There is no space for freedom of expression. This isn’t right. We condemn the action against this teacher,” Ashwath Narayana, Karnataka BJP general secretary, told reporters, lashing out at the government.

Several citizens too took to social media pages to diss the Congress for going after a government employee over a social media post. Many citizens saw the suspension as an disproportionate punishment for merely sharing a post.

Ex-bureaucrats point to rules

Former bureaucrats, however, pointed to the service rules.

Retired DG-IGP ST Ramesh told South First: “A government officer is entitled to his political views, preferences, etc, but he should not go public on that. It amounts to breach of discipline. If everyone talks like this, there will be chaos.”

Congress leader and Cabinet minister Priyank Kharge put the blame squarely on the department that ordered the suspension.

“If there is some malicious intent… that will be investigated. If the department says what he has shared or the opinion he has voiced about the performance of the previous governments [violates service rules], then the department will take action. It is not that the government has taken action, it is the department that has taken action.”

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Centre amended service rules to include social media posts

The Union government had, in 2016, made amendments to the Service Conduct Rules in order to prevent government officials from being critical of it on social media platforms.

This was based on a review committee that was formed by the Centre that recommended the addition of a note to the rules that any government employee who takes to social media and shares views that are critical of the government, will attract disciplinary action. The rules include caricatures — and possibly memes as well. Karnataka adopted these amendments to the State civil service rules and guidelines in 2021.

In its order copy, the Education department cited that Shantamurthy’s post was in violation of service rules under Karnataka civil service rules of conduct 1966 and 2021 3(i), (ii), (iii).

What the Service Conduct Rules say

No member of the service shall, in any radio broadcast or communication over any public media or in any document published anonymously, pseudonymously or in his own name 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…

1. Which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government; or
2. Which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Central Government and any State Government; or
3. Which is capable of embarrassing relations between the Central Government and the Government of any Foreign State.