Sc Bars Psu Staff From Speaking Out On Company Matters

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a public corporation employee cannot write to the governor of the state about the scams in his organisation or issue press statements and that his termination on these grounds would be valid.

The Supreme Court made this declaration in the case of an assistant manager of the Karnataka Small Industries Development Corporation, who was also the president of the employees welfare association.

In a letter to the governor, the assistant manager had blamed the managerial appointments made by politicians and ministers for the corporations recurring losses.

The KSIDC also gave a detailed account of the nexus between contractors and the management.

The letter had nothing to do with the service conditions.

Later, he also issued a press statement, which was published in some dailies.

The employee was dismissed for violating the conduct rules.

He argued that he had only used his freedom of speech guaranteed to every citizen by the Constitution.

However, the division bench consisting of Justice Sujata Manohar and Justice D P Wadhwa rejected his argument based on freedom of speech and freedom of association as both these rights were subjected to public order, decency, morality and other reasonable restrictions.

Upholding his dismissal, the Supreme Court ruled that the executive had made allegations against various officers with whom he had to work and that his conduct was harmful to the proper functioning of the organisation.