Responding to Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy’s statement that officials need not take instructions directly from the titular head following the verdict given by Supreme Court, Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi on Monday said public officials were aware that she was their boss when it comes to their appraisals.
“As far as public officials and senior officers are concerned, they know that Lt. Governor is their accepting authority as far as their performance appraisals are concerned. Hence their final assessment gets accepted or rejected here. If they want outstanding reports, they have to justify them by year round work,” Ms. Bedi said in a statement.
Mr. Narayanasamy, while addressing a press conference on Sunday, had taken strong exception to Ms. Bedi’s continuing with the practice of taking to social media to issue warnings to officers. He had advised officers not to take instructions given by the Lt. Governor who was bypassing the Ministers.
Ms. Bedi said the Chief Minister by making regular “negative” statements about the responsibility and accountability of the Lt. Governor was hurting the growth of the Union Territory.
‘Hurting growth’
“I am not sure whether the Chief Minister is realising that he is always hurting the speed of progress of Puducherry. If progress be his primary interest then he would not make such public exhortations. The responsibilities of the Lt. Governor are clearly laid down under rules. And if anyone needs to know, may please read them,” she said.
On the Supreme Court verdict in the case between Delhi Chief Minister and the Lt Governor of national capital, Ms. Bedi said the judges had clarified that the judgment did not apply to the Union Territory. She would continue to function as per rules and serve the people to the maximum.
Appealing to the Chief Minister to work together, she said: “To have sustained performance, we need to work together with clarity of purpose. We have to work together to ensure improvement in our services.”
