Teacher suspended for Facebook post criticising Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

A government school teacher in Karnataka was suspended on Saturday after he criticised the newly-formed Siddaramaiah government and policies of Congress in the state.

The suspension was issued by the authorities the same day when Siddaramaiah took his oath as Chief Minister.

Santhamurthy MG, a teacher at the Kanubennahalli government school in the Chitradurga district’s Hosadurga, posted his grievances on his Facebook, questioning the newly-elected government’s policies and its distribution of freebies during the election.

In the social media which led to his suspension, he wrote about the increasing debt that Karnataka had incurred during the tenures of different chief ministers.

“Debt during the tenure of former CMs — S M 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 Siddaramaiah Rs 2,42,000 crore,” the teacher said in the Facebook post.

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His suspension order was issued by Field Education Officer L Jayappa, stating that Shanthamurty had violated government service rules by criticising the government.

“Shantamurthy, violated government service rules by mentioning the debts incurred during the previous governments while Siddaramaiah was taking oath as the new chief minister on Saturday,” read the suspension order.

A departmental investigation into Santhamurthy’s actions has also been ordered.

Chitradurga Deputy Director of Public Instructions K Ravishankar Reddy confirmed the suspension, citing the violation of the Karnataka Civil Services Rules, 1966. Section 10 of this Act specifically forbids employees from openly criticising the government.

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