New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) The Services Department on Wednesday wrote to all departments, boards, commissions and autonomous bodies under the Delhi government to stop engagement of persons as fellows and advisors without the approval of the Lieutenant Governor.

The letter came days after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena terminated the services of around 400 'specialists' appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government in different departments, citing alleged irregularities in recruitment.

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The decision was dubbed as "unconstitutional" by the AAP dispensation, which plans to challenge it in court.

The letter said the Delhi Legislative Assembly is also not competent to appoint/engage such manpower without the approval of the Lt Governor.

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"...All the departments/organizations/boards, etc. under Govt. of NCT of Delhi are therefore directed...

All the departments shall immediately stop engagements of all the Fellows/Associate, Fellows/Advisors/Dy. Advisors/Specialists/Senior Research Officers/Consultants, by whatever name, wherein approval of the Hon'ble Lt Governor, Delhi has not been obtained till date," it said.

It also asked the Finance Department not to release salaries henceforth for those engaged without the LG's approval.

"If any administrative department finds it appropriate to continue such engagements, the detailed case with all records and proper justification shall be forwarded by the concerned departments to the Services Department, GNCTD for onward submission to Hon'ble Lt Governor for consideration and approval immediately," the letter said.

The LG office had earlier said the appointments also did not follow the mandatory reservation policy for SC, ST and OBC candidates prescribed by the Department of Personnel and Training.

It also directed all the departments to comply with the instructions "failing which action, as may deem fit, may be initiated against the concerned Administrative Secretary for violation of the Constitutional Provisions on Reservation".

The terminated persons were engaged in a "non-transparent manner" and without the mandatory approvals of the competent authority. Several of them did not even fulfil the educational and work eligibility criteria as laid down in the advertisements issued for the recruitment on the posts, the LG office had said in a statement.

(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)