PUDUCHERRY: A day after his party took strong exception to Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi’s unilateral decision to suspend a senior PCS official for allegedly posting three obscene videos on an official WhatsApp group, Chief Minister V Narayansamy chose to parry questioning hurled on him by reporters. Addressing a presser, Narayanasamy said he could not elaborate on whether the Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi was using powers over and above that of an administrator of the Union Territory as alleged by Welfare Minister, M Kandasamy. However, he did say that the inquiry into the PCS official accused of posting obscene video clips to an official WhatsApp group will follow legal procedures and that the official was not taken away from police custody.
The CM clarified that Kandasamy had denied that he had sought for the Union government to recall the Lieutenant Governor, Narayanasamy said. Narayansamy went on to add that officials should adhere to rules and guidelines laid down in several Acts including the Central Civil Services (CCS) rules governing the functioning of officials and the Union Territories Act 1963 and other rules specifying the powers of the Lt Governor, Chief Minister, ministers and others, which need to be adhered by all .
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi warned the bureaucracy of penalty for failure to perform duties appropriately.
“The penalty will be meted out according to the gravity of neglect or negligence of duties. You will get to seeing me identifying those who do not understand the message of performance,” she said in an audio conference posted on Twitter by her.
She said that she will continue to visit the places she has inspected in the last 50 rounds of morning visits to review the changes and sustain the progress made.