Forwarding message on WhatsApp group not grounds for action: Madhya Pradesh HC quashes govt employee suspension
A government employee in Alirajpur had been chargesheeted under Rule 3 of the Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1965 for forwarding the allegedly objectionable message to a WhatsApp group in which several employees were participants.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that the state government cannot take disciplinary action against a govt employee for allegedly forwarding political messages on a WhatsApp group. (Representational image via Canva) Granting relief to a government employee, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that the state government cannot take disciplinary action against him for allegedly forwarding political messages on a WhatsApp group.
A government employee in Alirajpur had been chargesheeted under Rule 3 of the Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1965 for forwarding the allegedly objectionable message to a WhatsApp group in which several employees were participants.
The petitioner submitted that his six-year-old daughter was operating his mobile, and “inadvertently she forwarded the message in the group, therefore, that was not intentional and bona fide mistake and submitting apology”.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia, in his order passed on February 28, said, “Even otherwise, forwarding any message in a Whatsapp group does not comes in any of the provision of Rule 3(1)(i) and (iii) of Rules of 1965.”
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