3 MLAs case: Pondy govt to file review plea against SC verdict, says CM

“The apex court has delivered its verdict, upholding the nomination of three members to the Legislative Assembly. The government will file a review petition on the matter after consulting legal experts,” Chief Minister V Narayanasamy told reporters here.

Lt Governor Kiran Bedi had administered the oath of office to the three members, V Saminathan, KG Shankar and S Selvaganapathi, in her chamber on July 4, 2017, but Speaker V Vaithilingam declined to recognise them as MLAs and had cancelled their nomination.

The issue had intensified the rift between Bedi and the Congress government with the latter assailing her action as unconstitutional and contending that the Centre had

‘unilaterally’ nominated the MLAs without consulting the territorial government.

The MLAs then challenged the Speakers’ action and moved the Madras High Court, which upheld their nomination.

Later, the Congress leaders filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which upheld the Centre’s decision.

Bedi had on December 6 welcomed the apex court verdict, saying she was “exceedingly grateful and happy” with the judgment.

On the contentious Mekedatu dam issue, Narayanasamy said that the government had filed a petition on Friday in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Centre to withdraw its approval for preparing a Detailed Project Report on the proposed dam across the Cauvery River in Karnataka.

He charged the Centre and the Karnataka governments with taking ‘injurious steps’ to construct the dam, saying it would hit riparian states dependent on the Cauvery, as also Puducherry, “which will suffer a lot.”

On conducting civic polls, he said the government was keen on holding them soon and added that a meeting would be held on December 17 to enlist the views of MLAs, who had requested that delimitation of wards be done properly before going in for the exercise.

The Chief Minister regretted that the Centre had not yet responded to the government’s request for Rs 1,342 crore as relief to tackle the impact of Cyclone Gaja in Karaikal.

“It is also unfortunate that the Prime Minister has been avoiding visits to cyclone hit Tamil Nadu and Karaikal. I am not able to understand the reason for this,” he added.

He also questioned the ‘arbitrary’ functioning of the Lt Governor, ‘ignoring’ the democratically elected government and said he had written several letters to Bedi, questioning the propriety of her visiting offices and issuing on the spot orders to heads of various departments.

Narayanasamy also said he had issued a standing order recently to all officers, asking them not to bypass the statutory rules and to act with the knowledge of the ministers concerned while replying to the Lt Governor’s oral orders.