Bombay High Court issues notice to Centre on curbs on writing, publishing imposed on retired personnel of defence, intel organisations

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Union government and sought its reply to a plea challenging the 2021 amendment to the pension rules for civil servants.

This amendment imposes new restrictions, including a prohibition on writing or publishing material without prior approval on retired officials of intelligence and security organisations. This condition was imposed as a substitute clause in rules on the officers' pension subject to their future good conduct.

A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Madhav Jamdar sought the Union government's reply while hearing a writ petition filed by former defence personnel Sandesh Singhalkar and Suresh Patil.