Rule 5 of Central Civil Services (Conduct) prohibits government employees from associating with any political party. It forbids them from poll campaigns (Representational Image)
A fortnight after it issued showcause notices to nine faculty members based on a complaint that they had canvassed for non-BJP candidates during last year’s state elections, the Central University of Gujarat (CUG) has “closed the matter”.
In response to the explanation to the showcause notices submitted by the nine faculty members, the university, while “accepting the clarification”, has stated that the “matter is closed”.
“Pursuant to your reply to the notice…the university has accepted your explanation and the matter stands closed,” the varsity said in a statement.
The notice was issued by CUG on April 20 to a professor, an associate professor and seven assistant professors after it received complaints forwarded by the HRD Ministry, office of the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer and the state Education Department. All three had forwarded the unsigned complaint — in English, written on an ABVP letterhead, with “Students of ABVP of CUG”, at the end. Both the state and CUG’s ABVP units denied sending any such complaint.
As “documentary evidence”, the complaint addressed to Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar included a photograph of the teachers, purportedly taken at an event in Ahmedabad that was attended by Congress president Rahul Gandhi last November. Stating that it constitutes a serious breach of official code of conduct and Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rule number 5, the complaint accused the teachers of “making Central University of Gujarat another JNU”.
Rule 5 of CCS prohibits government employees from associating with any political party. It forbids them from poll campaigns.
Denying the allegations, the faculty members had said that information, on the basis of which the showcause notice was issued, was “false, concocted with some ulterior purpose and oblique motive”.