CHENNAI: Justice T Raja of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered notice to the Union home ministry on a plea challenging two clarifications issued by the ministry on powers of a Union Territory Lieutenant Governor to call for records from the territorial government.
The petitioner, Puducherry Congress MLA K Lakshminarayanan, said the clarifications were issued at the instance of Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and that they had been issued in “total contravention of the Rules of Business of the Government of Puducherry, 1963.”
Petitioner assailed the clarifications dated January 27, 2017 and June 16, 2017. He alleged that Bedi “believes in her individual wish and will over the collective responsibility and wisdom of the council of ministers. Therefore, she wants to impose, substitute and perpetrate her ideas, thoughts and decisions by running a parallel government within the government.”
He added that the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy had already made a representation to the authorities concerned explaining the constitutional position, but the authorities were yet to respond.