Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Setting aside its earlier order in which it had asked the Puducherry Lt Governor to stop interfering in the day-to-day activities of the government, the Madras High Court on Wednesday asked the Union Territory government to work in unison with the Lt Governor.
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informed that First Bench of Honorable 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. 🙏
— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) March 11, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">informed that First Bench of Honorable 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. 🙏
— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) March 11, 2020informed that First Bench of Honorable 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. 🙏
— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) March 11, 2020
Soon after the High Court's decision, Kiran Bedi tweeted, "Informed that First Bench of Madras High Court headed by Chief Justice has allowed the appeals of Union of India and 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."
The decision was taken by a two-judge bench of the high court while hearing the petition filed by the Lieutenant Governor and the central government against the order of the single-judge bench which earlier ruled that Bedi cannot interfere with the Cabinet decisions of the V Narayanasamy-led government in Puducherry.
After hearing the arguments, the Madras High Court has directed the Puducherry government and the Lieutenant Governor to work in unison and also instructed the central government to resolve the difference of opinion between them at the earliest.
Read: Bedi faces protests as she arrives in Yanam
Earlier in April, 2019, the Madras High Court held that the Puducherry Lt Governor "cannot interfere" in the day-to-day affairs of the elected government of the Union Territory.
Justice R Mahadevan had pronounced the verdict on a petition by K Laksminarayanan, a Congress MLA, challenging two communications issued in January and June, 2017, by the Ministry of Home Affairs "elevating" the power of the administrator.
Allowing the plea, the judge 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."
Laksminarayanan is a legislator from the Raj Bhavan assembly constituency.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
