News18: Puducherry:
Wednesday, June 26, 2019.
An
NGO had obtained information through RTI that over Rs 3.6 lakh was reportedly
incurred by Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development & Investment
Corporation for facilities in Revenue and Industries Minister MOHF Shah Jahan's
office.
Puducherry
Lt Governor Kiran Bedi on Tuesday ordered a vigilance probe into the
expenditure by public sector undertaking (PSU)s to meet amenities in offices of
some ministers, allegedly in violation of rules.
Bedi,
in a WhatsApp message to reporters, said, "Whoever breaks rules is
accountable. A vigilance inquiry has been ordered and public officials
facilitating violation of rules relating to expenditure are accountable."
She
announced the probe on a representation by NGO Human Rights Awareness
Organisation over Rs 3.6lakh expenditure reportedly incurred by Pondicherry
Industrial Promotion Development & Investment Corporation (PIPDIC) for
facilities in Revenue and Industries Minister MOHF Shah Jahan's office.
The
NGO had obtained the information through the Right to Information Act. It had
also obtained information through RTI that the government-owned Adi Dravidar
Development Corporation here had met the expenditure of Rs 15,980 incurred by
the office of Welfare Minister M Kandasamy between April and July last year for
supply of tea to visitors at his office.
The
NGO had contended that it was the Council of Ministers that should spend money
for the requirements of the offices of the ministers and funds of the PSUs
should never be utilised. It sought the intervention of the Lt Governor in the
matter.
Bedi
and the Narayanasamy-led Congress government in Puducherry have been at
loggerheads on various administrative issues ever since she assumed office and
the government was formed in June 2016. In April 30 this year, the Madras High
Court had held that Bedi "cannot interfere" in the day-to-day affairs
of the elected government of the Union Territory.
She
then moved the Supreme Court on May 28, which on June 4 issued notice to
Narayanasamy. The apex court on June 21 extended its earlier order till July
10, restraining the Puducherry Government from implementing any cabinet
decisions having financial implications.
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