Advisory on usage of email policy finalised: Centre to HC

NEW DELHI: The Centre today told the Delhi High Court that an advisory on usage of emails as well as guidelines for usage of IT resources on government networks has been finalised and would be placed before the cabinet in the coming week.

"ASG Sanjay Jain appearing on behalf of Centre submits that email policy has been finalised for presentation before the cabinet. He further states email policy as well as guidelines for use of IT resources on government network shall be placed before the cabinet at the earliest, possibly within two weeks for their approval.

"With respect to posting of information on social media, an office memorandum has been issued advising all government employees to follow a particular protocol and for any official work involving transmission of public records they must use an email identity connected to a server located in India and for this purpose they may preferably take service of National Informatics Centre (NIC)," a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Siddharth Mridul said.

The high court also directed the Centre to respond to the use of social media network by government departments within four weeks.

The ASG also told the court that service tax on internet advertising is being collected as per Finance Act with effect from from October 1.

"All the Ministries/Departments of Central and state governments should either use e-mail services provided by National Informatics Centre (NIC) or they should use their own e-mail and web services being fully controlled by them and hosted in India for official communication...," the advisory read.