New Delhi, Jul 7 (PTI) The communications of the services and finance departments to stop the engagement of fellows and advisors at Delhi Assembly Research Centre were issued in a "hurried manner" and there was no need to discontinue their services, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said in a letter to LG VK Saxena Friday.

He said that any action taken against the fellows can be treated as a breach of privilege and contempt of the Assembly.

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The Legislative Assembly Secretariat in an order on Thursday discontinued the engagement of 116 fellows under the Delhi Assembly Research Centre (DARC) only to stay it hours later, following the intervention of Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

This came a day after the Delhi government's services department, on the direction of the LG, wrote to all departments, boards and commissions to stop the engagement of fellows and advisers without the lieutenant governor's approval. It also said the Delhi Legislative Assembly was not competent to engage such manpower without approval.

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A day later, the finance department asked all departments and agencies of the Delhi government not to release salaries of such persons. Delhi LG V K Saxena recently terminated the services of around 400 "specialists" appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government, a move the AAP dispensation has termed "unconstitutional".

"These communications by the Services Department and the Finance Department appear to have been issued in a hurried manner without examining the matter in detail or seeking legal opinion or the views of the affected stakeholders," Goel wrote to the LG.

Displacing the young professionals without any discussion or notice is against the principles of natural justice and "smacks of arbitrariness and unexplained vindictiveness", he alleged.

"The Fellows and Associate Fellows of the DARC were engaged after following the due process of engagement as required by law. As they are based on flawed reasoning these communications are fit to be declared void ab initio," Goel said.

The Delhi Assembly Research Centre was set up based on the recommendations of the General Purposes Committee of the Delhi Assembly. The concept note of the DARC Fellowship Programme was thereafter approved by the Finance department, the Speaker said.

He claimed the Fellows, Associate Fellows and Associate Fellows (Media) were engaged through the Delhi Technological University in a "transparent and scientific manner" with well-defined qualifications and eligibility criteria.

Goel said the services department's communication "seriously hampers" the working of the Assembly and its committees besides "creating confusion and apprehension" among the Fellows.

The two-fold objection of the Services Department is that engagement of fellows and advisors being a services matter, the approval of the competent authority -- the lieutenant governor -- was not taken and the constitutional provisions of reservation were violated, he said.

"Neither of these objections apply to the Fellowship Programme of the DARC."

The Fellowship Programme of the DARC is not an appointment or employment per se and does not fall under the purview of the services department, he contended.

The Fellows can not be considered as employees. In fact, in the offer letter to the candidates it is clearly mentioned that "the candidature to the fellowship programme shall on no account be treated as a claim to employment/appointment in the Delhi Assembly or any government service", Goel said.

"I find no reason to discontinue the Fellowship Programme of the DARC," he said, adding that he has also directed the Secretary (Legislative Assembly) to not take any action in this matter without his approval.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)