17 July 2021
Dear Prime Minister,
We are former officers of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. We have no political affiliation but have come together as the Constitutional Conduct Group because we believe in impartiality and neutrality and in safeguarding the values of the Indian Constitution.
We were surprised, and deeply disturbed, by the recent amendment to the Central Pension Rules notified by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on 31 May 2021. By this amendment, retired government servants who have worked in any intelligence or security related organisation included in the Second Schedule of the Right to Information Act 2005 have to take the clearance of the head of the organisation if they wish to make any publication after retirement, if such publication relates to and includes:
(i) domain of the organisation, including any reference or information about any personnel and his designation, and expertise or knowledge gained by virtue of working in that organisation;
(ii) sensitive information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, or relation with a foreign State or which would lead to incitement of an offence (publication here would, presumably, be an inclusive term encompassing verbal communication, though that is not very clear).
We are unable to understand why there is a need for such an amendment to the Central Pension Rules, when there already exists an Official Secrets Act 1923 and the State can, under it, prosecute officials and former officials who reveal information prejudicial to the State.
Pension is a right that accrues to every government servant for the service put in while in the government. It is subject only to future good conduct and cannot be taken away except for conviction for serious crime or grave misconduct. If writing about certain matters amounts to grave misconduct, the government can certainly take action, as per law, to deprive the former official of his or her pension.
The practice of retired bureaucrats writing their memoirs or articles on different aspects of the work done by them during their working years or commenting on current affairs using their ‘domain’ knowledge is universal and is appreciated the world over. Only those who have been involved in security related matters, internal or external, can speak with authority and credibility. Other domain experts, scholars and even interested members of the public look forward to such words of wisdom based on personal experience. It helps current practitioners to perform better.
It is true of India, as of any other country, that the government version of events, either current or past, is seen as the point of view of the party in power and is not, necessarily, reflective of the whole truth. It is because of this that the views and memoirs of past practitioners, unencumbered by the constraints of office, have value.
The recent amendment to the Pension Rules attempts to impose a silence that will seriously affect scholarship and be a permanent impediment to an understanding of the imperatives of our security concerns. Officers who have spent a lifetime in security related matters are unlikely to be irresponsible and reveal sensitive secrets. The laudable objective of ensuring that retirees do not divulge any sensitive material to the detriment of the nation’s security is best achieved by reiteration of the Official Secrets Act and stern action thereunder in case of infraction. And if the government is anxious to protect national security in keeping with the times and the Constitution of India, they should also carry out wide ranging consultations with political and civil society as well as the legal fraternity to find a replacement for the Official Secrets Act, which is itself in conflict with Article 19 of the Constitution.
We believe the framers of the new rules have not thought through the consequences of the order. It would mean that before publishing any article or speaking at any seminar or interview, the retired officers concerned would have to obtain prior permission. The reported assurance from the establishment that the order, in fact, makes it easier for the officers to contact their former employer to seek clarifications before they speak, is too fatuous to even merit comment. If strictly enforced, it could also mean, in effect, that no retiree from the specified services can participate in seminars or discussions, let alone engage in Track II dialogues, even if this is, possibly, not the intention.
In 2008, the UPA government tried to introduce such an order for officers who had served in the IB and RAW. The order was widely criticized and eventually withdrawn. The well-known lawyer AG Noorani had pointed out at that time that ‘the fundamental right to freedom of speech, which includes the right to know, is not absolute. But the state can impose only “reasonable restrictions” on the right, on grounds specified in Article 19 and only by ‘law’ and not by an executive fiat’.
With the current order, the government has gone beyond the 2008 order of the UPA government. With this order, India also acquires the dubious distinction of being, possibly, the only major democratic country in the world today which effectively bars its employees from expressing their views after retirement. Curiously, this is being made to apply to all officers who have retired, even those who have retired decades ago This is not merely a restraint on free speech, which it is, but an effort to entomb all relevant information and knowledge in the coffin of untrammelled state power
In 2008, the UPA government, perhaps persuaded of the wrongness of the order, did not finally bring the amendment into being. We hope that the present government would display similar sagacity.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
Yours sincerely,
Constitutional Conduct Group
(109 signatories, at pages 3-6 below)
| Anita Agnihotri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI | |
| S.P. Ambrose | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI | |
| Anand Arni | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| G. Balachandhran | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Vappala Balachandran | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Gopalan Balagopal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI | |
| Sushant Baliga | Engineering Services (Retd.) | Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI | |
| Rana Banerji | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Aurobindo Behera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha | |
| Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal | |
| K.V. Bhagirath | IFS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius | |
| Pradip Bhattacharya | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Meeran C Borwankar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI | |
| Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI | |
| Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi | |
| Gurjit Singh Cheema | IAS (Retd.) | Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab | |
| F.T.R. Colaso | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir | |
| Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI | |
| P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI | |
| Pradeep K. Deb | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI | |
| Nitin Desai | Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI | ||
| Keshav Desiraju | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI | |
| M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana | |
| A.S. Dulat | IPS (Retd.) | Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI | |
| K.P. Fabian | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Italy | |
| Prabhu Ghate | IAS (Retd.) | Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI | |
| Arif Ghauri | IRS (Retd.) | Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation) | |
| Gourisankar Ghosh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI | |
| Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI | |
| H.S. Gujral | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab | |
| Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI | |
| Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India | |
| Siraj Hussain | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI | |
| Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI | |
| Najeeb Jung | IAS (Retd.) | Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi | |
| Arun Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, GoI | |
| Brijesh Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI | |
| Ish Kumar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission | |
| Sudhir Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal | |
| P.K. Lahiri | IAS (Retd.) | Former ED, Asian Development Bank & Former Revenue Secretary, GoI | |
| Subodh Lal | IPoS (Resigned) | Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI | |
| B.B. Mahajan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI | |
| P.M.S. Malik | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI | |
| Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| L.L. Mehrotra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI | |
| Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan | |
| Shivshankar Menon | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser | |
| Sonalini Mirchandani | IFS (Resigned) | GoI | |
| Malay Mishra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Hungary | |
| Sunil Mitra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| Avinash Mohananey | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim | |
| Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal | |
| Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| Gautam Mukhopadhaya | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar | |
| T.K.A. Nair | IAS (Retd.) | Former Adviser to Prime Minister of India | |
| Sobha Nambisan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka | |
| P.A. Nazareth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Egypt and Mexico | |
| P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh | |
| Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI | |
| Niranjan Pant | IA&AS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General, GoI | |
| P. R. Parthasarathy | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Maxwell Pereira | IPS (Retd.) | Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi | |
| Alok Perti | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI | |
| G.K. Pillai | IAS (Retd.) | Former Home Secretary, GoI | |
| R. Poornalingam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI | |
| Rajesh Prasad | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to the Netherlands | |
| N.K. Raghupathy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI | |
| V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission | |
| C. Babu Rajeev | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI | |
| M.Y. Rao | IAS (Retd.) | ||
| Vijaya Latha Reddy | IFS (Retd.) | Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI | |
| Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania | |
| Manabendra N. Roy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| A.K. Samanta | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh | |
| G. Sankaran | IC&CES (Retd.) | Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal | |
| Shyam Saran | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary and Former Chairman, National Security Advisory Board | |
| S. Satyabhama | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI | |
| N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI | |
| A. Selvaraj | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI | |
| Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI | |
| Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan | |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat | |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia | |
| Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia | |
| Pravesh Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh | |
| Rashmi Shukla Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| K.S. Sidhu | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Ajai Vikram Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Defence Secretary, GoI | |
| Padamvir Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director, LBSNAA, Mussoorie, GoI | |
| Tara Ajai Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka | |
| Tirlochan Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI | |
| Jawhar Sircar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI, & former CEO, Prasar Bharati | |
| Narendra Sisodia | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| A.K. Srivastava | IAS (Retd.) | Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal | |
| Parveen Talha | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission | |
| Anup Thakur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission | |
| Thanksy Thekkekera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Minorities Development, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission | |
| Hindal Tyabji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir | |
| Ramani Venkatesan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Rudi Warjri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica |
Constitutional Conduct Group 