Can IAS officers air views on legal issues? Official's Bilkis remark stirs debate

HYDERABAD: A senior IAS officer and secretary in the Telangana chief minister's office (CMO), Smita Sabharwal, has sparked a debate on whether IAS officers have the right to express personal views on matters of law and governance after she tweeted in support of 2002 Gujarat riots victim Bilkis Bano.
As a row broke out over her comment, she tweeted on Friday wondering whether it was time to free bureaucrats from the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which bar them from expressing personal opinions.
"As a woman and a civil servant I sit in disbelief, on reading the news on the #BilkisBanoCase," Sabharwal had tweeted on Thursday and attached Bilkis Bano's statement against the remission of the prison sentences of her rapists with it. "We cannot snuff out her Right to breathe free without fear, again and call ourselves a free nation. #JusticeForBilkisBano (sic)," she had said.
When BJP leaders attacked her, she tweeted on Friday morning: "On the same note, is it not time to Ungag us, the #civilservice. We give the best years of our life, learning and unlearning our pride that is #India. We are informed stakeholders.. then Why this ?? #FreedomOfSpeech (sic)."
She attached a copy of the conduct rules with the tweet. The tweets left the IAS community sharply divided.
Former IAS Officers Association of United Andhra Pradesh president B P Acharya said there was nothing wrong in Sabharwal's tweet as a woman, individual, and civil servant.
"She has not made any statement officially and tweeted from her personal account. Being a woman and citizen of the country, she has the freedom to express her views on any issue. At the same time, people should be careful on issues with political overtones," he said.