Taking a u-turn, Delhi Assembly Secretariat on Thursday issued an order on Thursday discontinuing the engagement of 116 fellows under the Delhi Assembly Research Centre (DARC) only to state later that the decision has been kept in abeyance till further directions, following the intervention of Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.
This comes hours after the Assembly secretariat issued an order directing all such appointees to clear all dues and submit no due certificate without fail. In a related development, the Delhi government’s finance department has ordered all the Pay and Accounts Officers to ensure not to release salary of these persons by whatever name, where the approval of Lt. Governor, Delhi have, not been obtained till date.
“The order endorsement no F. 21 ( 2) 2020 /LAS/ DARC / 1276-1288 dated 06.07.2023 regarding discontinuation of engagement of fellow/associate fellow and associate fellow (media) is hereby kept in abeyance till further orders. This issued with prior approval of secretary (LA),” Deputy Secretary Sadanand Sah said in an order on Thursday.
Hours before this order, the Assembly Secretariat initially issued an order saying “the engagement of following fellows, associate fellows and associate fellows (media) under Delhi Assembly Research Centre in Delhi Legislative Assembly is hereby discontinued with immediate effect.”
The move was likely to affect 45 fellows, nine associate fellows (media) and 62 associate fellows. Goel said his intervention led to the order being stayed as he was consulted on the matter in the first place.
“The official concerned was pressured to issue the order but I intervened following which it was kept in abeyance. I will write to the LG about this issue. The engagement of these fellows is not a Services matter. They were engaged following approval from the House and the proposal was sent to the finance department, which had also approved it,” he added.
Earlier in the day, breaking his silence over the termination of 437 specialists, fellows, assistant fellows, and advisors among others hired by the Delhi government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said stopping the engagement of specialists and advisers will “completely strangulate” the Delhi government and its services, and hoped the LG's move will be quashed by the Supreme Court. “This will completely strangulate Delhi government and its services. I don’t know what does LG achieve by doing all this? I hope the SC immediately quashes it,” Kejriwal tweeted on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Controller of Accounts (Finance) LD Joshi in an order said all the Pay and Accounts Officers are directed to comply with the above instructions failing which action, as may deem fit, may be initiated against the concerned Pay and Accounts Officer for violation of the Constitutional Provisions on Reservation.
In a follow-up to the mass removal, the Services Department on Wednesday wrote to different departments and agencies of government to stop the engagement of persons as fellows and advisors without the approval of the LG.
The LG had recently terminated services of around 400 “specialists” appointed by the Kejriwal government.
