PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Tuesday said that the claim of Lt Governor Kiran Bedi of having redressed 50,000 grievances of people during her four-year tenure as Administrator of the UT was "contrary to facts ".
In a virtual press briefing, Narayanasamy said that he was amused by her statement as the Lt Governor was taking people for a ride.
The Chief Minister maintained that the office of the Lt Governor’s office is not an office for redressal of grievance and neither is Lt Governor an inquiry officer. The constitution has not bestowed the Lt Governor or her office with powers to conduct inquiries. "What complaints have she inquired, who gave her powers to inquire, which officials have inquired and what has been the final outcome on the complaints should be made known to the people," said Narayanaamy.
As per constitutional provisions, the Lt Governor should work in tandem with the elected government and not independently which the High Court of Madras in its recent order had made it clear . The High court has also stated that if there was any difference with the elected government on any issue the Lt Governor must refer the issue to the President.
If the Lt Governor has received a complaint, she, in turn, should forward it to the concerned minister through the Chief Minister’s office, said Narayanasamy. The concerned minister will initiate an inquiry through officials and take action. However, he regretted that Kiran Bedi is functioning by disrespecting democratic principles, constitution and the insulting the people of Puducherry.
Narayanasamy also charged that Bedi with sidestepping the elected government and functioning autocratically. He said that she has not done anything for either welfare or development of Puducherry, but has been creating hurdles in implementation of schemes and causing sufferings to people.