Fact Check: Circular warning employees who criticise govt is from J&K, not Punjab

New Delhi (Vishvas News): A government circular has been going viral on the internet in which it is written that the Chief Secretary has directed all administrative officers to monitor the social media accounts of government employees and take action against whoever is caught criticising government schemes or policies. The circular is going viral with the claim that it was issued by the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government.

Vishvas News investigated the post and found that no circular was issued by the Punjab government in reference to the claim. In our investigation, it was found that the circular was issued by the Jammu and Kashmir administration.  

What’s the viral post?

Facebook user Gautam Mittal posted a half copy of the circular (archive link) on February 20 and wrote in the caption, “Dictatorship of …… started. Kejriwal government’s order, stop criticizing the government on social media. Notices will be sent to government employees who criticize the government in Punjab.” BJP Gujarat office bearer Zubin Ashara also posted this circular criticising the Punjab government.

Vishvas News Investigation:

To investigate the viral claim, we first did an open search on Google with relevant keywords. We found an article published by Outlook on February 19 in relation to the viral claim. However, the Outlook report clearly stated that the circular was issued by the Jammu and Kashmir administration. As per the news report, “the Jammu and Kashmir administration has directed all administrative secretaries to monitor social media networks to identify and issue notices to employees making critical comments on government policies. Sources said Chief Secretary AK Mehta, at a meeting in Jammu on Friday, directed the General Administrative Department (GAD) to issue a necessary circular in this regard. During the meeting it was stated that some government employees have been critical of the policies and achievements of the government and are commenting on social media platforms.”

A similar news report was also published by Dainik Bhaskar quoting news agency PTI. Bhaskar in its report said that “action will be taken against government employees who criticize government schemes in Jammu and Kashmir. The administration has given instructions to identify such personnel. This order was given by the Chief Secretary after a meeting on February 17.”

The official Twitter handle of the Punjab Aam Aadmi Party also posted a tweet (archive link) on February 21 regarding this false claim. In the post, it is written that a notification of the Jammu and Kashmir administration is getting viral by wrongly claiming it to be of the Punjab government.

For more information, we contacted Naveen Nawaz, Bureau Chief of Dainik Jagran in Jammu and sent the viral post to him. He said, “A few days back such an order was given in Jammu and Kashmir. A similar order had come earlier as well.”

Facebook user Gautam Mittal, who shared the wrong post, lives in Chandigarh and is influenced by an ideology.