IIM Bangalore imposes ‘gag order’ on faculty member

NEW DELHI: In a post on X, Deepak Malghan, associate professor, Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) said that he has been issued a “gag order” by his institution barring him from posting anything on it.

While Malghan has challenged the order, he shared a post on social media platform on Thursday informing about the order and with images of the Preamble to the Constitution and Article 19 on the freedom of speech and expression.

I have been issued a gag order not to post any material connected with IIM. While I have challenged the order, this will be my pinned tweet for now. pic.twitter.com/TIqJ6K6PXx

— Deepak Malghan (ದೀಪಕ ಮಲಘಾಣ್) (@deepak_malghan) February 15, 2024

Malghan has been vocal about several issues in IIM Bangalore. The recent one was in August last year where through an “open letter” shared on social media, asking the corporate India to de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech.

Educational institutions imposing curbs on social media use for employees is on the rise.

In December, Delhi University said it would frame its own social media policy – a move opposed by teachers.

Earlier in 2023, the state-run Netaji Subhas Open University, Tarkeshwar, West Bengal, barred its employees from speaking to the media or posting any comments in social media about the institute without prior consent of the university authorities. Later, two teacher associations, All Bengal University Teachers' Association (ABUTA) and Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) also opposed the order.

Similarly, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in October 2023 instructed students against writing on paper checking on social media.