The West Bengal government has rejected recommendations by a panel set up by its higher education department to determine the terms and conditions of employment of college teachers after it proposed that teachers be barred from talking to the media or express their views on public policy.

One of the panel’s key recommendations was that teachers would be barred from expressing their views on policies of both the state and central governments in the media. If accepted without modification, the proposals meant teachers would not be allowed to write in newspapers, share their views for being reported or appear on television shows.

But Partha Chatterjee, the state’s education minister, on Wednesday said on Twitter that the “allegation that the freedom of speech of university professors is being curbed… is a blatant lie”. He clarified that no such rule is to be implemented. The minister had earlier said that he had issues with several recommendations made by the panel.