Tell tales, lose pension: Intelligence officials warned

NO STORY TELLING: Govt has put a ban on officers in intelligence agencies from writing books and appearing on TV shows.

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New Delhi: Intelligence officers have been gagged under the new pension rules. According to the rule, officers risk losing their pension if they reveal anything on security issues even after their retirement.

Vivek Garg is a book publisher but for one book he published last year, the government charged him with violating the Official Secrets Act.

Major General Singh's book, India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of RAW that triggered this immediate move alleged that there was corruption and political interference in the intelligence agency.

However, the book was accused of making public, the secret information.

Meanwhile, to prevent the recurrence of publication of such books or views, the government has now put a blanket ban on officers in intelligence agencies from writing books and appearing as guest experts on television shows.

“As per the law it is unconstitutional,” says Managing Director, Manas Publications, Vivek Garg.

From April 2008, the government is making officers posted in sensitive organisations sign undertakings, preventing them from writing, publishing, communicating in any form on any issues relating to the functioning of their department. And officials found flouting the undertaking after their retirement might be tried for breach of service rules and their pension benefits could be cut.

Critics say that this move by the government might turn out to be counterproductive as stifling the information flow can lead to more leaks from inside the government.

“Probably it will be counter-productive. The standards that we set for ourselves should be comparable to the standards that are to be seen in Western democracies,” says Former chief, RAW, AK Verma.

“The pity is that so many books containing such information have been published but no authority dealing with corruption has taken notice of those there,” adds AK Verma.

Ironically, the rule comes at a time, when the country's armed forces is finalising new rules to allow its officers to write and publish without having to ask for permission.