In the tit-for-tat being played out between the Raj Nivas and the Congress Government in Puducherry, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi on Thursday revoked an order issued a few days ago by Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy prohibiting government officials from using social media applications for official communication.
Although the Government circular of January 2 had in prohibiting applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter for official use cited security concerns in exchanging work-related communication given that the servers of these applications were located outside the country, the move was quickly interpreted as a counter to Ms. Bedi suspending a Pondicherry Civil Service cadre officer for posting an allegedly lewd clip on a WhatsApp group initiated by the Lt. Governor for passing on instructions to officials.
On Wednesday, the Lt. Governor’s suspension of A.S. Sivakumar, Registrar of Cooperative Societies,was stayed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as the official concerned had been appointed as Electoral Registration Officer for the ongoing electoral roll revision.
The ECI had stated that the official, in his capacity as electoral officer, was subject to "control, superintendence and discipline of the Commission under section 13 cc of the Representation of People Act, 1950", and that the LG should have taken the Commission into confidence and consulted it before placing the official under suspension.
The Commission directed that the official resume duty to perform the statutory duty of final publication of the electoral roll, and asked to be apprised of the allegations so as to decide whether the official was allowed to continue as ERO or not.
Notwithstanding the setback, the Lt. Governor on Thursday cancelled the Government order prohibiting the use of social media for official work, and going a step further, reproduced the original and the superseding orders on her Twitter handle.
The terse order from the Lt. Governor Secretariat declared as null and void with immediate effect the Government circular dated of Januaruy 2, 2017 with subject ‘Public Services-Use of Social Media-Instruction Issued’ .
“If Puducherry has to be a progressive UT, it cannot be retrograde in communications. Hence @CM_Puducherry 's order stands cancelled: @PMOIndia ” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sivakumar, an officer belonging to the Pondicherry Civil Services (PCS), joined duty after the Election Commission of India put on hold his suspension.
When approached for a response to the Lt. Governor’s order superseding the government circular, Mr Narayanasamy refused to comment. He said “I have not seen the order and only heard about Ms. Bedi’s post on Twitter informing about her decision to cancel the order issued by the government.”
