Jammu and Kashmir administration has issued guidelines regarding the use of social media by the government employees of the union territory.

The government said that none of its employees shall, through any post, tweet or otherwise, discuss or criticize on social media, any policy pursued or action taken by the Govt, nor shall he/she, in any manner, participate in any such discussion or criticism on social media pages, communities, microblogs.

It also said that no government employee shall make any statement of fact or opinion in any radio broadcast or document published in their own name or anonymously. This includes any communication to the press or any public utterance.

These rules are important because government employees are representatives of the administreation and their actions and words can have a significant impact on the public’s perception of the government, the order said.

The order also lists out the activities that are not to be carried out by the employees on social media. It warns that violation of the conduct rules can be punished under rule 30 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control, and Appeal) Rules, 1956. Punishments for violations include censure, fines, withholding of increments and/or promotion, reduction to a lower post and/or time-scale, recovery from pay of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to the government by negligence or breach of orders, premature retirement on proportionate pension, and removal from the service of the state that does not disqualify from future employment.