Daijiworl Media Network (SR)

New Delhi, May 4: It looks like the perpetual dispute between Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayansamy and Lieutenant Governor former IPS officer Kiran Bedi will settle down, with the Madras HC ruling in favour of the CM. The High Court on Tuesday, said, “The Puducherry Lieutenant Governor has no right to interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the city government.”

Since Kiran Bedi took over as Lieutenant Governor in 2016, she and Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, on many occasions, had publicly argued with each other over administration related issues in the government.

The HC gave its ruling, following a writ petition filed by Puducherry Congress MLA Lakshminarayanan in 2017. In the petition he questioned the Lieutenant Governor’s powers to interfere in administrative works even during the presence of council of ministers.

However, Bedi has posted and open letter in Tamil to the residents of the Union Territory regarding the HC’s new order. In her letter, posted by the twitter handle of the Office of the Lt Governor, she wrote that she has been trying to provide better administration to the people.

Various newspapers have reported that the latest reason for the escalation was Bedi’s decision to make helmets compulsory for two-wheeler riders in Puducherry. Bedi and Narayansamy had a tiff regarding the implementation of the helmet rule. Bedi wanted the rule to be implemented at one go while Narayansamy wanted to implement the rule in phases after providing general awareness among the public.

CM Narayansamy earlier also criticized Bedi's action and said she should function as only a 'post office' and sign papers. He had accused her of interfering with his government's activities on PM Modi's behest.