After the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, V.K. Saxena, on Saturday approved the revival of 126 posts of principal/deputy education officer at state-run schools, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sidosia termed it as a ‘false’ claim and asked the ‘not to play politics over the issue and instead explain why he has been delaying such crucial appointments’.
Sisodia said, “Delhi L-G has stalled the revival of 244 posts in the name of ‘comprehensive study’. Schools are running without principals but the L-G wants a ‘comprehensive study’ to assess whether principals are needed. Every school needs a principal and the posts are vacant, which should be filled first rather than studying the need.”
“Instead of claiming credit, place the files in the public domain to explain why you have been delaying the appointment of principals. Stop giving bureaucratic excuses, give a date by which the posts of principals abolished by you will be revived,” Sisodia said.
Issuing a statement, Sisodia said, “The L-G’s office has issued a press release claiming that he has approved the revival of 126 posts of school principals which lapsed due to the ‘apathy’ and ‘inaction’ of the AAP government. This claim by L-G office is a new bunch of lies and it is a blatant attempt to hide the fact that the Central government and the L-G office have stalled the appointment of principals in Delhi government schools for more than seven years.”
The statement from the Deputy CM also pointed out a sequence of events claiming that it will “expose the lies and false claims of the L-G office”.
The statement read, “The fact is that right after the formation of the AAP government under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal in 2015, it approached the UPSC to fill 370 vacant posts of principals. In the meantime, in 2015 itself, the services department was unconstitutionally taken away from the purview of the elected government and handed over to the L-G. Hence, effectively, the L-G was responsible for these appointments and was supposed to act promptly to get these appointments done.”
“For the reasons best known to the L-G office, these appointments were not allowed to happen on one pretext or the other. So much so that the Education Minister, understanding the pain of running the schools without principals, held a series of meetings with the services department but they were under direct instructions not to expedite the process. Excuses like ‘comprehensive study’ of requirements of these posts were imposed by the services department, obviously under the instructions of the L-G,” read the statement.
Sisodia also said that after so much effort by the Education Minister despite repeated stalling by the L-G, his office is shamelessly claiming that he has revived 126 posts, hiding the fact that he has actually abolished 244 school principal posts on the ground that they have been lying vacant for the last more than five years.
“While we welcome the revival of 126 posts after repeated efforts of the Education Minister, if the L-G is really sincere and is not playing politics again, he should give a date by which the remaining 244 posts will be revived. He should not hide behind terms like ‘comprehensive study’ or such lame bureaucratic excuses to obstruct the appointment of principals to schools,” he said.
Sisodia said that it is a matter of fact that 244 posts of principals are also needed because they exist in the schools which are functioning without principals for so many years.
“Lastly, we urge the L-G to stop playing dirty politics. First he has stalled foreign travel of teachers to attend training in Finland and now he wants to abolish 244 posts of principals under the false claim of reviving 126 posts,” Sisodia said in the statement.
