Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena of causing unnecessary obstructions in the process of sending government school teachers abroad for training.
He alleged that the process was delayed because of Lieutenant Governor not clearing the file.
CM Kejriwal in an official statement released on Thursday said that they sent the file to the LG Office on October 25 last year.
“After keeping the file with him for 15 days, the LG returned the file with three objections on 10 November. We ensured that their previous objections were cleared and the file was sent to him once again, but his office came up with two new objections and sent the file back to the Delhi Government on January 9,” he alleged.
“We again worked to clear his objections and sent the file back to LG on January 20, but still have not got the file back,” Kejriwal said in a statement.
He further said, “Earlier when I went to the Raj Niwas along with other AAP MLAs to protest against his unnecessary objections, the LG office gave a statement to the media saying that the LG does not have any problem with our teachers going abroad for the training program. He claimed that he had just asked for some clarifications.”
“If this is really true, then why has the file been lying in his office for the past 15 days? Why has his office not cleared the file yet?” Kejriwal questioned.
“In this regard, I want to clearly state that the Constitution says that the LG is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. This is the same for the states of India, where the Governor is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. Similarly, the President of India is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of the Central Government. At the state level or the Central-level, all the files are not objected to by the Governor or the President, respectively. The decision is taken by the Cabinet and the Governor signs on the file,” he said.
“The process was the same for Delhi until 2018 when the Supreme Court stated that the Lt Governor in Delhi is also bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. But in 2021, the Central Government unconstitutionally changed the law and stated that all the files of the Delhi Government will have to be passed through the LG Office. Now every file of the state government goes to the LG Office and he unnecessarily creates objections to all the decisions of the government,” he added.
“This is illegal and the Central Government has blatantly used its majority to pass a law that goes against our Constitution. This is against the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the previous law as well. Earlier when the LG used to blatantly block all of our files, we went to the Supreme Court and it ruled on 4th July 2018 that this was not allowed by the Constitution. But in 2021, the Central Government made a mockery of the Constitution and passed an illegal law. We have moved the Supreme Court on the matter and we are hopeful that soon the Apex court will rule this law to be illegal,” he alleged.
“It is not right for the LG to obstruct all the development works of the state government on some pretext or the other. The works that are for the benefit of the citizens should not be blocked by any person. I sincerely hope that the LG Office will look into this matter and pass the file as soon as possible,” he concluded.
The CM cited the example of Punjab’s educators going to Singapore for training, on the lines of Delhi, and questioned why Delhi’s teachers aren’t being allowed to go for training. “I am delighted to see 36 teachers from Punjab going to Singapore for training. I appeal to LG Sahab to allow Delhi’s teachers also to go to Finland for training. On the lines of Delhi, 36 principals of government schools of Punjab are going to Singapore for training from 6 to 10 February, these principals will act as catalysts of change in Punjab,” he added.
“So far, more than 1000 educators of Delhi have gone abroad for training and after coming back they have transformed their schools. 30 educators of Delhi were supposed to go for training in December, but they could not go because of the objections raised by the LG,” he added.
This report is filed by ANI news service. TheNewsMill holds no responsibility for this content.
