A government school teacher in Karnataka has been suspended over his Facebook post criticizing the newly appointed Siddaramaiah congress government in the state.

The incident took place at Hosadurga in Chitradurga district. Allegedly, the primary school teacher, Shanthamurthy in his social media shared a post criticized the congress government for distributing freebees at will while leaving the state in large debts.

In the post, it mentioned that the debt during the tenure of former chief ministers SM Krishna was Rs 3,590 crore, Dharam Singh Rs 15,635 crore, HD Kumaraswamy Rs 3,545 crore, BS Yeddiyurappa Rs 25,653 crore, DV Sadananda Gowda Rs 9,464 crore, Jagadish Shettar Rs 13,464 crore and that of Siddaramaiah was highest of them all at Rs 2,42,000 crores.

Officials in the education department said that the teacher had been suspended after the incident was brought to their notice as it was against the Karnataka Civil Service (Conduct) Rules of 1966. An official said that the post was viewed as offensive as the teacher held a government posting and was not allowed to pass remarks criticizing the government.

A source in the education department said that the teacher’s friend to whom his phone was handed over shared the post while the teacher was unaware. “He immediately deleted it upon noticing. Unfortunately, some local politicians took note and had complained to the DC. He has submitted an apology for the behaviour and it is being reviewed,” said the source. 

The Karnataka Civil Service (Conduct) Rules of 1966 have it that “No Government Servant shall, in any radio broadcast or in any document published in his own name or anonymously, pseudonymously or in the name of any other person in any communication to the Press or in any public utterance, make any statement of fact or opinion.”

A government employee is not allowed to make statements which have an effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Government of Karnataka, Central Government or any other State Government, according to the rules.

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