West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday deplored Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “non-responsive” approach to the Raj Bhavan, and said he was still awaiting information he had sought every week ago on the appointment of administrators to run the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
He said such an approach was “unfortunate” and “contrary to the constitutional norms”.
Dhankhar had on May 7 invoked Article 167 of the Constitution to hunt information from the chief minister about the appointment of the KMC board of administrators headed by state minister Firhad Hakim, who was also the town mayor before the tenure of the regular board of the corporation expired.
Article 167 of the Constitution lays down the duties of the chief minister to furnish information to the governor.
“Your continued non-responsive stance when it involves the performance of ‘duties’ under Constitution towards the Governor in terms of Article 167 is unfortunate and contrary to your oath under Article 164 and against the essence and spirit of the Constitution and surely can’t be countenanced,” he wrote during a letter to Banerjee.
The administrators were appointed on May 6 to run the day-to-day affairs of the corporation in sight of the postponement of the civic elections thanks to COVID-19-led lockdown.
It is for the primary time in its history that the KMC is being governed by a panel of administrators. The tenure of the Trinamool Congress-run board of the civic body expired on May 7.
In his letter, Dhankhar said he had sought information, among others, on the whole deciding process that culminated within the promulgation of the May 6 notification by which the KMC board of administrators was appointed.
“I still await the knowledge sought vide my communication dated May 7, 2020 sent to you after the Chief Secretary , West Bengal , had did not make available the knowledge sought from him on May 6, 2020 [sic],” he said within the letter.
There are various representations, including those from opposition parties, regarding the appointment of the board of administrators, the governor said.
The governor said the representations described it as death knell of Constitutional prescriptions.
