: The last pretence of cohesive governance may have vanished this past week in Puducherry, with the simmering discord between Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy turning into a full-blown confrontation.
While in the past, the Union Territory’s titular head and its political commander-in-chief have dismissed the slightest suggestion of a rift and reasserted the Constitutional limits of their respective roles, they might no longer bother to feign concord after the dramatic developments of the last week, which featured lewd videos on WhatsApp, the suspension of an official, refereeing by the Election Commission, and a government circular trashed by Raj Nivas.
Trouble started after the Lt. Governor suspended a Pondicherry Civil Services cadre official for posting a reportedly lewd video on one of the WhatsApp groups initiated by her to pass on instructions to officials. The official was detained by police and later summoned to Raj Nivas for an explanation.
The Lt. Governor subsequently suspended the official and also directed police to book a case under Section 67-A of the IT Act.
Closing ranks, the bureaucracy decided to exit the Lt. Governor’s WhatsApp groups after a delegation of officials failed to convince Ms. Bedi to withdraw the suspension.
Government circular
Mr. Narayanasamy chose not to respond directly, instead sanctioning cannon fire against the Lt. Governor via his Cabinet Ministers. However, the government came out with a circular dated January 2, 2017, prohibiting officials from using social media for “interaction with seniors bypassing the administrative hierarchy and routine official channel”.
Though the circular cited security risks, it was a virtual no-brainer that the move was intended as a rebuff to the Lt. Governor.
Interestingly, the challenge to the Lt. Governor’s suspension order would come, not from the government, but from the Election Commission of India. The ECI stayed the Lt. Governor’s suspension order as the official happened to be serving as an Electoral Registration Officer. It categorically stated that the official, in his capacity as an electoral officer, is subject to “control, superintendence and discipline of the Commission under Section 13CC of the Representation of People Act, 1950”, and the Lt. Governor should have taken the Commission into confidence before placing the official under suspension, particularly when the publication of the final electoral rolls was imminent.
Apparently unfazed by the setback from the ECI’s directive, the very next day, the Lt. Governor cancelled the government circular prohibiting the use of social media as it “has been issued in contravention of guidelines, rules, and policies, etc., in force”.
"If Puducherry has to be a progressive UT it cannot be retrograde in communications. Hence @CM_Puducherry’s order stands cancelled,” Ms. Bedi also tweeted.
And, in her manner of proving the point (of more technology for governance), posted the government circular and her own order on Twitter.
The Lt. Governor order’s superseding the government circular set the cat among the political pigeons.
In a hard-hitting complaint to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, eight Congress MLAs blamed the Lt. Governor for her “rigidly autocratic, unethical, whimsical and dictatorial,” style of running the administration by “overlooking” an elected government.
If the ruling Congress stopped short of demanding a recall, the Opposition AIADMK urged the Centre to recall the Lt. Governor for “violating the procedures and set rules by having frequent tussle with the elected government”.
