State retracts circular after Sena protest

January 28, 2017 01:04 am | Updated 01:04 am IST - MUMBAI:

A circular banning religious pictures in government offices was retracted a day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed it and the party’s Ministers held a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

After the meeting, State Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam said, “The Chief Minister agreed to cancel the directive and initiate an inquiry.”

Mr. Thackeray on Sunday slammed the order issued to Zilla Parishads in the State through the Rural Development Ministry on January 4. He said, “Where was your transparency before you took this decision? Why were Sena Ministers not taken into confidence?” The Sena chief said he accepted secularism and it should be applied without discrimination. “If you have the courage implement the Uniform Civil Code.”

Later in the evening, the government issued an order retracting the circular and served a show cause notice to the officer responsible. Education Minister Vinod Tawde said the said letter was neither an ordinance nor a circular, but was a letter issued from the Mantralaya. “However it needs to be investigated as to how the said letter was issued without taking permission from the senior officials.” He said Mr. Thackeray’s claims that it was a government decision was based on half information.

Meanwhile, a day after Mr. Thackeray’s announcement of snapping electoral ties with the BJP, Sena MP s did not attend a meeting called by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss Maharashtra’s demands from the Union Budget.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.