Work in unison and not in division: Madras High Court tells Puducherry Lieutenant Governor, Chief Minister

Madras High Court on Wednesday counselled Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy and Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi to “work in unison and not in the division" while setting aside a single bench’s order that the L-G cannot “interfere in the day to day affairs” of the Government.

The verdict is a major victory for Bedi who has been maintaining that the Constitution has given her enough powers to interfere in the functioning of the democratically elected government as Puducherry is a Union Territory and not a full-fledged state.

A division bench of Chief Justice A P Sahi and Justice Subramonium Prasad set aside the April 30, 2019 ruling by Justice R Mahadevan of the Madurai Bench which said Lt Governor and Administrator of the Union Territory, Kiran Bedi, cannot interfere in the “day to day affairs” of the Government.

The Wednesday’s ruling came on appeals filed by the Union Government and the Lt Governor challenging the order passed on a petition filed by Congress legislator in Puducherry, K Lakshminarayanan. The petition had challenged two orders issued by the Centre in 2017 that maintained that the L-G had powers to interfere in the functioning of government.

Contending that the UT of Puducherry, its legislature and the system of governance is distinct, the bench observed that it cannot be given an equivalent status that of a state through a judicial verdict given its present Constitutional and legal structure.

"We, therefore, expect that the popularly elected Government headed by the Chief Minister and the Administrator/Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry shall work in unison and not in division," the bench observed in its ruling on Wednesday.

The bench also observed that the single judge had erred in holding that the Puducherry Legislative Assembly enjoys similar powers to that of a State legislature. In his order, now set aside by a larger bench, Justice Mahadevan had said the Administrator cannot interfere in the day to day affairs of the Government.

“The decision taken by the Council of Ministers and the Chief Minister is binding on the Secretaries and other officials. The Central Government, as well as the Administrator, should be true to the concept of democratic principles,” Justice Mahadevan had said in his 151-page detailed order.

In her first reaction to the verdict, Bedi said: “Informed that First Bench of Honourable Madras High Court headed by CJ has allowed the appeals of Union of India & the Administrator Puducherry AGAINST the orders of the learned single judge which had averred to restrain the powers of the Lt Gov of Puducherry under the UT Act.”