Puducherry CM takes exception to Bedi's oral orders to police

Puducherry Chief Minsiter V Narayanasamy Wednesday accused Lt Governor Kiran Bedi of issuing "arbitrary oral" instructions to traffic police on dealing with violations of rules, saying she should send written orders on which he would take the final decision.

After holding a meeting with the traffic police officers, he took strong exception to the action of police in conducting surprise checks of documents of motorists and levy of spot fine on busy roads based on the "oral instructions" of Bedi.

The chief minister, who has been locked in a tug-of-war with Bedi on various issues, told reporters here that he had received a number of complaints from public that the police action was causing difficulties to them during peak hours.

He held the meeting a day after Bedi, a former IPS officer, pulled up police personnel after she spotted numerous lapses in management of traffic during a drive she undertook in a private car 'incognito' in the town.

Bedi in a communication to the media Tuesday had said she issued a verbal warning to police officers after summoning them for a meeting at her office.

Narayanasamy said police conducted surprise checks for verification of documents like license and insurance based on oral instructions of the Lt Governor.

"I have asked the police officers that they should give reasonable time to vehicle owners to get documents in case they were not carrying the papers.

"Any oral instruction arbitrarily issued by the Lt Governor and implemented by the police was causing practical difficulty to the people," he said.

The Lt Governor should issue written instructions by adopting the required procedure. Such instructions should be placed first before the Director General of Police and then before the Chief Secretary.

"It is the Chief Minister who will take a decision ultimately after receiving the file from Chief Secretary on measures including spot fine to deal with violators of traffic rules. No oral instructions can therefore be given arbitrarily by the Lt Governor to the police," Narayanasamy said.

Any immediate action would only harass the people particularly with tourists coming in large number into the Union Territory, he contended.

Bedi and Narayanasamy have been at loggerheads over various issues with the latter had even demanded her recall while objecting to her style of functioning.

He and the ruling Congress have accused her of taking decisions without consulting the elected government.

Bedi, however, has been insisting that she was only exercising her powers as the administrator of the union territory.