Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (Express Photo By Amit Mehra) Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). (Express Photo By Amit Mehra)

AMID REPORTS that some RSS members were prohibited from joining government services in Goa, the Sangh has said that “banning RSS members” from joining government service is “unjust, unlawful and undemocratic”.

“This ban is unjust and unlawful. This ban hardly affects the RSS and its Swayamsevaks. It has already been proved unconstitutional by several courts. It’s good if the government considers lifting this ban,” RSS All India Prachar Pramukh Manmohan Vaidya told The Indian Express.

The Centre, by its 1966 order, had banned government employees from participating in activities of RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami.

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MoS Personnel and PMO Jitendra Singh had recently said that “the central government has not issued any such order recently. If any old order exists, we will review it in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs”.

In response to an RTI application in 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs had clarified to The Indian Express that the 1966 order is “still applicable”.

Vaidya said several government employees, who faced action after they participated in RSS programmes, approached courts. The court then termed the ban unconstitutional. “RSS does not work through state power or with the support of it. RSS works among the people, with the people and for the people,” he said.

Some BJP-ruled states have already lifted the ban. In 2015, the Chhattisgarh government had issued a notification that allowed government servants to join RSS and participate in its activities. In Himachal Pradesh, the previous BJP government withdrew the restriction in 2008. Madhya Pradesh too the measure in 2006.

The Centre has so far held that the RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami are political organisations and “participation in them by government servants would attract provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 5 of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964.” In its 1966 order, the Centre had said that “any government servant who is a member of or is otherwise associated with the aforesaid organisations or with their activities is liable to disciplinary action.”

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