Officers of the Pondicherry Civil Service are upset at the manner in which Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi suspended one of their colleagues, and at his being detentained at a Puducherry police station for nearly 15 hours last week. A case has also been filed against the officer under the Information Technology Act.
On Friday, AS Sivakumar,the Registrar of Co-operative Societies, posted a pornographic video on a WhatsApp group that Bedi and several senior administrative officials of Puducherry are part of. Bedi suspended him soon after.
The officers say that Bedi should have followed official procedure against Sivakumar, who holds the Joint Secretary rank, before taking a decision on his suspension.
The officer sent the pornographic video to a group, titled “Prosperous Rural Puducherry”. This group was formed on Bedi’s instructions and is meant to be a communication platform where government officials issue instructions and seek follow-up actions on issues of concern to the public, as well as suggestions and feedback from officials in the administration. It is administered by the Officer on Special Duty at Raj Niwas, Bedi’s official residence. This officer filed a complaint against Sivakumar on Friday.
WhatsApp is not an official channel for government communication.
‘Hasty suspension’
Sivakumar’s colleagues say that though they do not condone Sivakumar’s act, Bedi’s suspension of the officer was an example of “hasty and arbitrary action” especially since he had informed Raj Niwas officials soon after the incident that the video had been sent by mistake, and had urged them to delete it.
Despite this, Sivakumar was summoned to the lieutenant governor’s residence on Friday and asked for an explanation. Reportedly not satisfied with it, Bedi suspended him and handed him over to the police – which had also been summoned to Raj Niwas – along with the complaint.
Sivakumar spent Friday night at the Orleanpet police station and was only released late on Saturday afternoon after Chief Minister V Narayanasamy’s cabinet colleagues A Namassivayam and M Kanadasamy, and legislator K Lakshminarayanan, intervened.
One civil service officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the lieutenant governor should have followed official procedure, including initiating an inquiry against Sivakumar before taking a decision on his suspension. Another officer said that Sivakumar’s detention for more than 14 hours could not be justified.
On Saturday, Congress ministers and MLAs met Director General of Police Sunil Kumar Gautam at his office. After the meeting, Senior Superintendent of Police Rajiv Ranjan told reporters that no FIR had been filed against Sivakumar and no arrest had been made in connection with the complaint either. When asked why Sivakumar had been detained for almost 15 hours, Ranjan said it was only for a “friendly chat”.
However, on Saturday afternoon, Bedi sent a tweet saying that a case has been registered against a senior officer for a “grave criminal act”.
Most tough action taken against senior officer here for a very grave criminal act. Case registered & officer suspended @HMOIndia @PMOIndia
— Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) December 31, 2016
The case has been registered under a section of the Information Technology Act that relates to “punishment for publishing in electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest”.
On Saturday, Social Welfare Minister M Kandasamy demanded that the Centre recall Bedi.
“The LG has acted autocratically and without following due procedure,” he said. “Nowhere are officials given instructions through WhatsApp.”
This is the second time Kandasamy has hit out at Bedi, whom he has earlier accused of crossing the boundaries of her mandated responsibilities.
Good start, but now sputtering
Bedi was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry in May and initially impressed many with her energetic and people-friendly activities.
She took up the Union government’s Swachch Bharat mission with gusto. Every Saturday morning, she conducted inspections around Puducherry along with top administrative officials, earning the approval of the public. Her office also created mechanisms for citizens to submit their grievances to her in person as well as through social media.
However, a cold war soon began between bureaucrats and Bedi, and later between the Congress-led government and the lieutenant governor.
Narayanasamy, who addressed reporters on Sunday, refused to comment on the case against Sivakumar but said “everybody should read central civil service rules”.
He also declined to comment on Kandasamy’s statement asking the Union government to recall Bedi.