Puducherry has been "cleaned up" of corruption of a "gigantic scale" by the CBI this year, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, who has been at loggerheads with the Congress government here on several issues, said today.
"Prior to festivities we clean our homes.. The CBI has done this for Puducherry this year..," she said in a WhatsApp message to reporters here.
She was referring to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing cases against two IAS officers of Puducherry and 11 other officials on September 20 in connection with alleged irregularities in admission of students to PG courses in private medical colleges here.
"The CBI has cleaned up Puducherry of its historical evil nexus of extortion and nepotism in admission to private medical colleges," the message read.
She specifically asked government officers "to be courageous in writing to their own bosses, political and official, and save records with them for their protection."
The former IPS officer also asked ministers "not to scare officials but take responsibility" for the orders they give.
"People on their part must also speak up against injustice," she said, adding that Puducherry has been cleaned up of "historical corruption of a gigantic scale through the CBI".
Reacting to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy's comments on the CBI case against the IAS officials, she said, "There is no outsider, please", and asked the chief minister to accept the "criminality" that has taken place.
"The CBIwould not register an FIR of this scale without credible evidence," she said.
"It is time for the chief minister and Puducherry health minister in particular to take responsibility for the colossal failure and embarrassment to Puducherry," her message said.
The lt. governor claimed it to be the "primary failure of the chief minister, the ministers and the chief secretary".
"Even officers of therank of secretaries and directors will noteasily indulge in such mass-scale criminality, getting widely reported in the media," she said.
"They (officers) shall have to defend themselves before the court of law for years to come at their own expense and their careers will be severely affected," she said.
She also said that "they need to tell the truth as to whether they were committing these irregularities on their own or were being directed to and by whom."
In his reaction to the CBI inquiry against the Puducherry officials, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy had yesterday said some persons were "preoccupied with victimising" officers of the Union Territory and attempting to "paralyse" the administration.
A war of words has going on between Bedi and Narayanasamy since the former took over as the lt. governor last year.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)