The war of nerves in the Union Territory of Puducherry between Kiran Bedi, the lieutenant-Governor and V Narayanasamy, the Chief Minister, reached a flashpoint on Thursday with the former declaring a circular issued by the latter banning the use of social media for official communication on administrative matters as “null and void.”
Bedi also posted a copy of her order on her personal Twitter handle declaring the Government circular null and void with immediate effect on the ground that it was issued “in contravention of guidelines, rules and policies of the Government”.
She Tweeted, “If Puducherry has to be a progressive Union Territory (UT) it cannot be retrograde in communications. Hence @CM_Puducherry’s order stands cancelled: @PMOIndia (sic).”
Narayanasamy’s instruction to the officials in the UT to not use the social media for official communication was a fall out to the suspension of AS Sivakumar, registrar of cooperative societies, issued by Bedi. Sivakumar was suspended for posting obscene videos in a WhatsApp group “Prosperous Rural” initiated by the lieutenant Governor.
The act of Sivakumar posting obscene video in a group that included many women officers created a furore over the administration and the pro active Governor placed him under suspension on last Friday pending enquiry. The Chief Minister who has been already upset with Bedi for her outreach programmes, retaliated on Monday by issuing an order directing the officials to not use social media platforms to communicate on administrative matters.
The circular by the Chief Minister dated January 2 had directed all the officers, heads of departments and employees of Government-owned undertakings to immediately desist from using the social media such as Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook.
It had added that the servers of these multi-national companies were based outside the country. “Any foreign country can get access to these official communications and documents uploaded which is a violation of the Official Secrets Act and also against the guidelines issued by Union Information Technology Ministry,” it had said.
“Prosperous Rural” is a WhatsApp group for exchange of information and details of implementation of various Government schemes. An Officer on Special Duty at Raj Nivas is the administrator of the group.
The group had turned out to be an instant hit with most of the officials as they were enthused by the fact that they could directly communicate with the lieutenant Governor herself about shortcomings and other burning issues.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Indi on Thursday stayed Bedi's December 30 order suspending Sivakumar. “He was appointed by the EC as Electoral Registration Officer for three Assembly seats in Puducherry. Sivakumar was subject to control, superintendence and discipline of the ECI under section 13CC of the Representation of People Act, 1950. The lt Governor ought to have taken the commission into confidence and consulted it before placing him under suspension,” said an official of the ECI.