Guv has no constitutional right to issue direct orders to top officers: Pinarayi

AFTER a lull, the government-governor conflict is back in the news. A day after Governor Arif Mohammed Khan summoned the chief secretary and the state police chief over the chief minister's controversial interview, the government instructed its top officials to ignore the fiat.

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Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot off a letter to the governor, bluntly telling him that he didn't have the Constitutional right to issue such direct orders to the two top civil servants. The Raj Bhavan is Constitutionally obliged to route any such communication through the CM, Pinarayi said in the letter. The governor was quick to respond to the letter, saying he opted for a briefing from the chief secretary and the state police chief as the CM did not respond to his letter seeking clarification on Pinarayi's remark on the “alleged anti-national a