Over 90 former civil servants on Tuesday raised concerns about recent amendments to the All India Services Rules, saying that the Centre wants to impose a complete ban on the right of retired civil servants to comment on public matters by threatening to withhold or withdraw their pensions.

On July 6, the Centre amended rules to take action against pensioners who were employed with the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Forest Service without having to wait for a reference from state governments if they are found guilty of a “grave misconduct” or convicted by a court.

Officers for all the three services are hired by the Union government through a centralised process but are deputed in states based on the cadre they are assigned.

The former bureaucrats, who are part of the Constitutional Conduct Group, said in a statement on Tuesday that the Centre has not provided an “exhaustive definition” of what constitutes “grave misconduct” while making the amendments.

“By leaving this deliberately vague, ambiguous and amorphous, the union government has armed itself with unlimited powers to harass and persecute any pensioner whose action is not to its liking, whether it be an article, an interview, participation in a protest march or seminar, or any form of criticism,” the statement said.

The former civil servants said the move to usurp the power of states to withdraw pensions violates the principles of federalism. This also confers “draconian powers of oversight and overrule on the Union government, which is not in conformity with the duality of control envisaged in the All India Services structure”, they contended.

Moreover, the former bureaucrats said that the amendments will expose officers posted in states ruled by Opposition parties to intimidation by the party in power at the Centre.

“The withdrawal/withholding of pension for any criminal conviction is equally pernicious and untenable in law as it amounts to double jeopardy, punishing a person twice for the same offence,” the signatories continued. “The pension is something [s]he has already earned by dint of long service. If [s]he commits a crime, [s]he will suffer the consequences of that by the operation of that criminal law: [s]he cannot be penalised a second time for the same offence by withdrawing her/his pension.”

The former civil servants wrote that the government’s amendments would inflict “unjustified tribulations and misery” on the pensioners’ family too.

Citing rulings of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, the signatories said that pension is not a charity bestowed by the government but is “kind of deferred payment for services already rendered”.

The Constitutional Conduct Group urged the Centre to abolish the amendments and put the decision in abeyance for the sake of federalism, freedom of expression and a vibrant democracy.

“Rules governing conditions of service need to be dynamic and in sync with the changes in interpretation of laws, the evolution of jurisprudence on rights and freedoms, the development of the concepts of democracy and an open society,” the statement said.