Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy on Monday said that he left Sunday’s ‘at home’ held at Raj Nivas in a huff to protest against Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi’s “continued disregard for rules and procedures.”
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Narayanasamy said himself, Speaker V.P. Sivakolundhu, Member of Parliament V. Vaithilingam and a few Ministers attended the event, the customary reception hosted by the Lieutenant Governor on the Republic Day evening, as invitees to wish the gathering.
The Chief Minister said that without giving information, the Lt. Governor’s Office decided to felicitate Padma award-winners and give awards to officials.
‘No information’
“We did not have any information on the felicitation part. The Lt. Governor cannot take unilateral decision on selecting officials for awards,” he said.
The Lt. Governor’s decision to honour two officials for attending to “maximum” number of grievances was itself a flawed policy. The proper procedure to attend public grievances was through the Ministry. A grievance received by the Lt. Governor’s office had to be forwarded to the Secretary for follow up in consultation with the Minister concerned, the Chief Minister said.
Instead of following the rules, the Lt. Governor had started the practice of alerting the head of department to take follow up action which was against the rules, he said.
Mr. Narayanasamy said it was Ms. Bedi who threatened officials with adverse remarks on annual confidential report and not the Ministers. “A video of her abuse of an officer who served in the Union Territory administration reveals about the threat faced by officers. The particular officer thereafter never attended any functions of the Lt. Governor,” the Chief Minister said.
On the issue of Anglo French Textiles, the Chief Minister said the government was firm on introducing voluntary retirement scheme instead of closing the mill.
The Cabinet meeting on Tuesday would deliberate on the issue.
