According to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Lieutenant Governor’s recent decision prohibiting the hiring of hundreds of advisers and fellows without his consent would “completely strangulate” the services and operations of the Delhi government.
The Delhi government’s Services Department wrote to all departments ordering them to immediately cease hiring any Fellows, Associate Fellows, Advisors, Dy. Advisors, Specialists, Senior Research Officers, or Consultants without the Lieutenant Governor’s consent.
The decision issued on Wednesday said, “As per GOI’s notice dated 21.05.2015,’services’ is a reserved subject and Lt. Governor is the competent authority in service issues connected to GNCTD. In the letter, it was additionally requested that the Finance Department no longer pay employees without the LG’s consent.
Following allegations of recruiting irregularities, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena terminated the employment of almost 400 “specialists” hired by the Kejriwal administration in various departments. According to a statement from the LG office, they were acting in a “non-transparent manner” and without the required consents from the appropriate authorities.
The judgment was deemed “unconstitutional” by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who intends to challenge it in court. They said that the hiring procedure was conducted in accordance with the law.
“The LG did not use any natural justice grounds in making its judgement. Not a single show cause notice was sent, and at never point was an explanation or clarification requested. This unlawful judgment will be contested in court, according to an AAP statement.
In its statement, the Delhi administration said that the LG is “hell-bent upon completely destroying” Delhi.
It said that the only reason the 400 gifted young professionals were punished was because they choose to work for the Delhi government.