NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena on Monday approved the proposal for the revival of 1,027 posts of vice principals in the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) for the years 2014-15 to 2019.
“In a move aimed at ending adhocism and contractual appointments, L-G Saxena has approved the revival of 1,027 posts of vice-principals in DoE. These posts of vice principals would have been abolished automatically for the reason that they were not filled within the prescribed time limit,” a statement from the L-G’s office said.
It said the Delhi education department is already operating with acute shortage of the vice principals and that the vacant posts were filled on an ad hoc and contractual basis by the DoE.
As per the earlier Recruitment Rules (RRs), 100% posts of the vice principals were supposed to be filled in through promotion, wherein the cadre of the vice principals changed from Group ‘B’ gazetted to Group ‘A’ gazetted and the mode of selection also changed from 100 per cent through promotion to 50% by promotion and 50% through Direct Recruitment by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The statement said the L-G was informed that out of these 1,027 posts of the vice principals, 873 posts up to vacancy year September 2018 (prior to amendment of RRs dated 15. 10 2018) were filled on ad-hoc basis and remaining 154 posts (pertaining to vacancy year 2018-2019) have not been filled.
As per the new recruitment norms, the eligible candidates are available for promotion and their promotion cannot be denied, and in the near future, the present situation may worsen, given the fact that the vice principals may also retire leading to more vacancies.
Meanwhile, the AAP, in an official statement, said, “It is imperative to highlight that the responsibility for services lies squarely with the L-G. Why, then, has the L-G failed to exercise his power to fill these vacancies? In the paramount interest of the public, ensuring the uninterrupted education of children was absolutely crucial, and we spared no effort in making every conceivable arrangement.”
“It is regrettable that, despite our commendable efforts, the L-G’s office is attempting to deflect accountability onto us for his inadequacies,” the AAP claimed.
L-G, AAP trade barbs
Meanwhile, the office of the L-G and the AAP exchanged barbs over the issue. While the Raj Niwas claimed the posts of vice principals were likely to be abolished automatically for the reason that they were not filled within the prescribed time limit by the concerned wings of the city government, the AAP diverted blame, saying the L-G failed to exercise his power to fill these vacancies. “The responsibility for services lies squarely with the L-G,” AAP asserted.