Puducherry: Virendra Kataria is the second lieutenant governor in Puducherry who has had to quit office on a directive from the Central government. Sources said the earlier incumbent Chandrawathi held the post for a very short period in 1990.
Mr Kataria had on Monday passed an order directing the special public prosecutor to file an appeal against the order of a lower court acquitting the two seers of the Kanchi mutt and 22 others in the Kanchi Sankararaman murder case. He was sacked by the Centre on Friday.
Mr Kataria, who assumed charge as the 21st Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry in July 2013, was frequently at loggerheads with Chief Minister N. Rangasamy over the lack of law and order in the Union territory. The Chief Minister had pointed out that the Lieutenant Governor was interfering in the routine administrative affairs. Files that the government sent to him were either kept in cold storage or rejected.
The BJP, an ally of the ruling AINRC in Puducherry, led a delegation to meet the Union home minister Rajnath Singh, alleging that Mr Kataria was running a parallel government. Highly placed sources said that the Central government’s dismissal of him was expected.
The Union Territory Act 1963 accords greater powers to Lieutenant Governors instead of the elected government, this being one of the Chief Minister’s reasons for wanting statehood.
Former chief minister and leader of the opposition V. Vaithilingam pointed out that the Centre’s decision to replace the Lt. Governor without a reason had set a wrong precedent. He said that his tenure had resulted in the considerable development of Puducherry and Karaikal.
M.A.S. Subramaniam, convener of the Puducherry unit of the DMK, refused to comment on the issue. Meanwhile, activists of the ruling AINRC celebrated the Centre’s announcement by bursting crackers at major thoroughfares in town.
