NEW DELHI: Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel in a letter to L-G VK Saxena on Friday, said that the communications of the services and finance departments to stop the engagement of fellows and advisors at Delhi Assembly Research Centre were issued in a “hurried manner” and there was no need to discontinue their services.
The Legislative Assembly Secretariat in an order on Thursday discontinued the engagement of 116 fellows under the Delhi Assembly Research Centre (DARC) only to stay it hours later, following the intervention of Goel. This came a day after the Delhi government’s services department, on the direction of the L-G, wrote to all departments, boards and commissions to stop the engagement of fellows and advisers without the L-G’s approval.
It also said the Delhi Legislative Assembly was not competent to engage such manpower without approval. A day later, the finance department asked all departments and agencies of the Delhi government not to release salaries of such persons. Delhi LG V K Saxena recently terminated the services of around 400 “specialists” appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government, a move the AAP dispensation has termed “unconstitutional”.
The communications issued by both the departments appear to have been issued in a hurried manner without examining the matter in detail or seeking legal opinion or the views of the affected stakeholders displacing these young professionals without any discussion or notice is against the principles of natural justice and smacks of arbitrariness and unexplained vindictiveness. The letter read that the DARC was set up on the basis of the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee of the Delhi Assembly. The Report to this effect was adopted by the Assembly in its sitting held on February 27, 2019.
The Concept Note of the Delhi Assembly Research Centre Fellowship Programme was thereafter approved by the Finance Department. Fellows, associate fellows and associate fellows (Media) are being engaged through the Delhi Technological University (DTU) in a transparent and scientific manner with well-defined qualifications and eligibility criteria.
“In a surprising manner, the Services Department’s move has seriously hampered the working of the Assembly and its Committees besides creating confusion and apprehension in the minds of these brilliant fellows. The two fold objection of the Department is that being a Services matter, the approval of the Competent Authority was not taken and for violating the constitutional provisions of reservation,” it said.
The letter further read, “In view of the above facts I find no reason to discontinue the Fellowship Programme of the DARC which had been set up on the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee and agreed to by the Assembly and also, the proposal had been duly approved by the Finance Department. Neither does the fellowship programme come under the subject matter of ‘Services’ nor has any constitutional provisions been violated in its functioning. I have also directed the Secretary (Legislative Assembly) to not take any action in this matter without my approval.”
‘Issue handled without examining matter’
The communications issued by both departments appear to have been issued in a hurried manner without examining the matter in detail or seeking legal opinion or the views of the affected stakeholders displacing these young professionals without any discussion or notice is against the principles of natural justice and smacks of arbitrariness and unexplained vindictiveness.