Puducherry LG interference: Next hearing in Madras HC on Oct 31, any govt decision taken subject to outcome of appeal

The Madras High Court today made it clear that any decision taken by either the Puducherry Government headed by Chief Minister V Narayanaswamy or its Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi would be subject to the final outcome of an appeal pending before the Court over the tussle of power between the Lieutenant Governor and the elected government..However, the Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and P Velmurugan has not stayed the single judge order that has been challenged by the Union Government in the appeal. Earlier, a Bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and CV Karthikeyan had declined to pass a stay when the matter had come up before them last month. Since then, there has been a portfolio change, leading to the matter being posted before the present Bench..The Bench today also posted the matter for final arguments on October 31. Additional Solicitor General Aman Lekhi and Senior Advocates Arvind Datar and AL Somayaji appeared for the appellants i.e. the Central Government and LG Bedi. Senior Advocates G Masilamani and VT Gopalan appeared for the respondent, Lakshminarayanan..The appeal has been filed against a judgment passed in April this year by Justice R Mahadevan. A plea filed in the Madras High Court against the Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi for acting to run a “parallel government” in Puducherry had culminated in Justice Mahadevan ruling that the administrator of Puducherry (i.e. Bedi) “cannot interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Government under the guise of supremacy or public interest, stating technical reasons.“.The Court, therefore, quashed two communications made by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in January and June 2017, which the Court found had effectively undermined the power of the Legislative Assembly and elevated the power of the Administrator, though not exactly available under the applicable laws..The Central Government has now challenged this verdict before the Division Bench of the High Court. The Centre had earlier moved the Supreme Court challenging the Single Judge verdict. However, on July 12, the Supreme Court declined to interfere in the matter, while granting the Government liberty to move the Madras High Court itself on appeal..Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, Click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.