Orders go out to remove 116 fellows of Delhi Assembly, Speaker intervenes

After first ordering disengagement of 116 fellows and associate fellows, the Assembly Secretariat issued another order putting the first decision on hold. This came after the intervention of Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

“The first order was issued by an official under pressure from the L-G; I issued directions to keep it under abeyance after I learnt about it. As it is with the rest of the city’s bureaucracy, the officer who issued it did so under fear,” he said.

He added that he would write to the L-G over the issue since engagement of the Delhi Assembly Research Centre (DARC) fellows was “not a Services matter” and they were engaged following approval from the House.

The DARC fellowship was instituted by the Assembly in 2019 along the lines of the Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament fellowship, wherein fellows work with an MP full-time for a year. A DARC fellow is paid a stipend of Rs 1 lakh and an associate fellow is paid Rs 60,000 per month by the Delhi Assembly.

The Finance Department, meanwhile, directed all departments not to release salaries of the over 400 consultants, specialists, fellows and advisors whose services have been terminated. The order was issued to the pay and accounts officers of the Delhi government by the controller of accounts, finance.

This will completely strangulate Delhi govt and its services. I don’t know what does Hon’ble LG achieve by doing all this? I hope Hon’ble SC immediately quashes it. https://t.co/MJvLqSEOdq

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 6, 2023

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the L-G’s direction to terminate services of advisors, consultants and fellows in different government departments would “strangulate” its functioning. He also said he hoped the Supreme Court would quash the orders. “This will completely strangulate Delhi government and its services. I don’t know what does Hon’ble LG achieve by doing all this? I hope Hon’ble SC immediately quashes it,” Kejriwal tweeted on Thursday.

The government and the Legislative assembly has, over time, engaged 437 “private persons” as employees in different roles. As per a senior government functionary, the experts and researchers were brought in to lend expertise to the government’s functioning and were responsible for policy suggestions and framing as well as scientific inputs in specialised areas.