Wednesday, May 7, 2014

[rti4empowerment] CAT seeks reply on govt criticism by IAS, IPS officers

 

CAT seeks reply on govt criticism by IAS, IPS officers

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Lucknow Bench today issued notice to the Government of India to present a detailed reply within 4 weeks in my petition challenging the complete prohibition on the members of All India Services to criticize any recent policies or acts of the State government. The next of hearing is fixed on 28 July.

The petition said that rule 7 of the All India Services Conduct Rules 1968 makes a blanket prohibition on any statement of fact or opinion having adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government made by IAS, IPS and IFS officers, but such a blanket ban in too wide and vague to be legally sustainable, to the extent of being prone to misuse.

It says that the right to freedom of speech and expression can be curtailed only through the restrictions imposed under Article 19(2) of the Constitution but the restrictions under Rule 7 are completely unrelated with these grounds, other than being vague and too wide and hence they need to be quashed.

Here is a copy of the petition--


Amitabh Thakur
# 094155-34526

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