West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday sought an explanation from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on her government's decision to appoint a 14-member board of administrators to run the Kolkata Municipal Corporation without informing him.
The administrators were appointed on Wednesday evening to run the day-to-day affairs of the corporation with Mayor Firhad Hakim as its chairman in view of the postponement of the civic elections in the state amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
"Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar has, while drawing the attention of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as regards the Notification dated 6 May 2020 about the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, has requested her under Article 167 of the Constitution that casts 'duties' on you 'with respect to the furnishing of information to the Governor' and furnish the information called for by him from the chief secretary (sic)," the Raj Bhavan said in a press statement.
Noting that the governor has sought more information on the notification issued for KMC, the statement said, "Lack of response from the chief secretary has led to the invocation of Article 167 of the Constitution."
Reacting to the governor's assertion that he should have been kept in the loop about the development, senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy said, "Law does not state that it is not necessary to inform the governor. The state has issued the order in accordance with the law."
Earlier in the day, Dhankhar, in a series of tweets, raised the issue and said that the state government should have sent the notification to Raj Bhavan.
"Chief Secretary called upon to urgently forward notification May 06 as also the entire decision making process, including the authority that has taken this decision. Priority be given its constitutional repercussions impacting bodies subject to Part IX A of Constitution.
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"Appreciating sentiments of people ignoring a lot-surely cant compromise on constitution Order in my name-am not aware. No consultation or information. Where are we heading! Defiance to central directives unfortunate. Time for change-act as per law for the sake of people (sic)," Dhankhar tweeted.
With civic elections in West Bengal postponed due to COVID-19, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, for the first time in history, will be governed by administrators.
The tenure of the current TMC-run board of the civic body expired on Thursday.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh claimed that the ruling dispensation resorted to an "undemocratic approach" to retain control of one of the older municipal corporations of the country.
"If they wanted to appoint an administrator they could have brought in an ordinance. But they didn't do that. They opted for a back door entry and resorted to undemocratic measures to retain the control of the KMC," he said.
Over the past two months, the state government and the Raj Bhawan has been engaged in a war of words over state's preparedness in handling the COVID-19 situation.
The face-off escalated last week, with Banerjee accusing Dhankhar of repeatedly interfering in the functioning of her government, and the governor contending that the state cannot be governed as a personal fiefdom.
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