Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 2: In yet another showdown between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi VK Saxena, 223 employees contractual employees of the Delhi Commission for Women were sacked by an executive order on Thursday virtually crippling the functioning of the establishment.
The former chief of the DCW Swati Maliwal, now a AAP Rajya Sabha member, immediately cried foul over Mr Saxena’s “Tughlaqi order” and wondered why was the LG bent upon destroying the organisation that was built with “sweat and blood” of women.
The order to the DCW issued by the Delhi government’s women and child welfare department claimed that the LG had approved the proposal to remove 223 employees of the commission allegedly recruited by Ms Maliwal without following the due procedure of law and without seeking prior permission.
In a Hindi post on X, Ms Maliwal said, “LG Saheb has issued a ‘Tughlaqi’ order to remove all the contract staff of DCW. Today, there are a total of 90 staffers in the Women’s Commission, out of which only 8 people have been given by the government, the rest are on a contract for 3 months each.”
“If all the contract staff are removed, the Women’s Commission will be locked. Why are these people doing this? This organisation is built with blood and sweat. Instead of giving it staff and protection, you are destroying it from the roots? As long as I am alive, I will not let the Women’s Commission be closed. Put me in jail, don’t oppress women!” Ms Maliwal said.
According to department officials, Mr Saxena approved the department’s proposal regarding the termination of appointments, following which the department issued an order on it. “… the Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor has approved the proposal of the department that the appointments of contractual staff engaged in DCW without having sanctioned posts and without following due procedures is void- ab-initio and the same cannot be allowed to continue in DCW,” read the official order.
“Therefore, the approval of the government is hereby conveyed to Delhi Commission for Women to discontinue the services of all contractual staff with immediate effect who have been appointed by DCW at any point of time, by going beyond its delegated power and without following various procedures laid down and in violation of DCW Act/rules/regulations/guidelines issued by Govt. of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) from time to time,” the order read.
The order cites the Delhi Commission for Women Act and says that the panel has a sanctioned strength of 40 employees and that 223 new posts were created without the approval of the Lieutenant Governor. The order further said even the employees engaged in the posts were not assigned any roles and responsibilities
“The Delhi government has provided 40 sanctioned posts in the DCW in compliance of sub-section (i) of section 5 of the Delhi Commission for Women Act, 1994,” the order said. The Act reads, “The government shall provide the commission with such officers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient performance of the functions of the Commission under this Act.”
The DCW has violated the statutory provisions of DCW Act, 1994 and various standing instructions of the Department of Finance and Planning Department by creating 223 posts and “engaging staff without following due procedure.” “…no study was conducted to assess the actual requirement of additional staff and eligibility criteria for each post, no administrative approval and expenditure sanctioned was obtained from the GNCTD for engaging such manpower and applications for such posts were not formally invited, role and responsibility for any of these posts were not assigned and emoluments of some of the incumbents which were decided at the time of initial appointment, were enhanced very sharply and arbitrarily,” read the order.
