Prayagraj, Aug 3 Observing that merely bringing to light an act of wrongdoing or any matter affecting public interest cannot by itself be construed as misconduct, the Allahabad High Court has quashed the suspension of a government teacher over his social media posts highlighting alleged misdeeds of a BJP leader.
According to the petitioner, the sole allegation against him was that he had uploaded certain posts on social media concerning Uday Pratap Singh, who was stated to be the BJP's Firozabad district president.
He contended that although the district basic education officer had directed him to delete the posts, he refused to do so following which the suspension order dated July 4, 2026 was passed.
The petitioner alleged that the suspension had been issued "at the behest of" the BJP district president.
It was submitted that his social media posts were treated as misconduct despite the fact that a detailed reply and explanation had already been submitted to the show-cause notice issued to him.
After hearing the parties, the court noted that the allegation forming the basis of the suspension order was that the petitioner had posted messages on social media highlighting the alleged misdeeds of the BJP district president and the authorities had treated such conduct as misconduct.
"Prima facie, this Court is of the considered opinion that merely bringing to light an alleged act of wrongdoing, embezzlement, or any matter affecting public interest by a citizen in exercise of his fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, cannot, by itself, be construed as misconduct so as to warrant disciplinary action, unless such expression is shown to be prohibited by law or violative of any applicable service rule," said the order passed on July 29.
In view of this observation, the court said that the suspension order could not be sustained and the same is quashed.
