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 a 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 seek information from the chief minister about the appointment of the KMC board of administrators headed by state minister Firhad Hakim, who was also the city 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 comes to 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 cannot be countenanced," he wrote in his letter to Banerjee.
The administrators were appointed on May 6 to run the day-to-day affairs of the corporation in view of the postponement of the civic elections due to COVID-19-induced lockdown.
It is for the first time in its history that the KMC is being governed by a panel of administrators. The tenure of the TMC-run board of the civic body expired on May 7.
Over the past two months, the state government and the Raj Bhavan have frequently engaged in acrimonious exchanges over the Banerjee dispensation's handling of the COVID-19 situation and the lockdown to stem its spread.
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