Thiruvananthapuram | The Kerala Raj Bhavan on Saturday clarified that government officers, including the chief secretary and the DGP, will always be welcome to the Governor's residence for personal matters, but for official matters, they will need to come with the chief minister's authorisation.
The clarification came with regard to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's statement a day ago that the chief secretary and the DGP were coming regularly to Raj Bhavan, "without authorisation from the chief minister" and now, "no more will they be welcome".
The Raj Bhavan, in a release, said that some media reports gave the wrong impression that officers will not henceforth be welcome to the Governor's residence.
"To a query regarding chief secretary and DGP being recently directed by Chief Minister not to go to Raj Bhavan for a briefing, Governor had said that so far, officers used to come for official matters without authorisation from the government and he used to entertain them.
"Now, for official matters, they will not be welcome without authorisation by the Chief Minister. However, for personal matters, they are always welcome," it clarified.
Khan had made the remark while accusing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of keeping in the dark about "crimes against the state" being committed in the state.
The Governor and the CM have been at loggerheads following Khan's summons to the chief secretary and DGP seeking information about any alleged anti-national activities going on in the state.
Both the chief secretary and the DGP had not met the Governor after the CM wrote a letter to the Raj Bhavan stating that officials cannot be summoned without informing the elected government.
