Delhi LG gives appointment letters to nearly 1,500 new govt officials
Those who were handed over their letters of appointment on Wednesday include 324 principals, recruited through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), in various government schools
For Chitra Khurana and Sanjay Yadav it was a dream come true as they joined 1,500 others who were handed over their letters of appointment to serve in the Delhi government by Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena during a ceremony held by the Delhi government’s services department at Vigyan Bhawan on Wednesday.
“It is really a moment of pride for us. We will perform with the utmost dedication, devotion and honesty, and serve the citizens of Delhi,” said Khurana who was appointed as principal in the education department.
“We are lucky to get our appointment letter in such a short span of time. We’ll give our best,” said Yadav who was appointed as a statistical officer .
Those who were handed over their letters of appointment on Wednesday include 324 principals, recruited through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), in various government schools -- posts which were vacant since 2010-11; and 500 fire operators, appointed by Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSBB), officials aware of the matter said.
Speaking on the occasion, Saxena congratulated the newly recruited government servants and emphasised that government job is not only a source of livelihood but a commitment to serve the society. “These fresh permanent recruitments are in line with Prime Minister’s vision of ending adhocism in government departments and providing opportunities to deserving candidates selected in a transparent manner. I’ve always laid stress on the need of augmentation of the manpower in Delhi by recruitment on permanent basis against the posts lying vacant for long time in Delhi government. It will not only provide increased job opportunities to youth, but at the same time it will also ensure availability of required manpower for overall development of Delhi,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the central government was stalling recruitments in the capital for the last nine years. “LG has claimed that in the last few years, these vacancies had been piling up. Everyone is aware that appointment for jobs in Delhi, transfer of government officers or taking actions against errant officers, all of this comes under the central government. If 35,000 posts had been lying vacant, the central government should be blamed for the delay in filling up these posts,” said Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP spokesperson.
The LG office hit back at the allegations and said that the education department or any other department of the Delhi government never put up demands for filling vacancies despite huge vacancies. “They always preferred adhocism aimed at favouritism by appointing thousands of employees on contract, in gross violation of procedures, manuals and court orders,” an official in the LG office said.
Bharadwaj further alleged that questions should be raised about why these posts were left vacant for so long. He said that over the last years, he has asked several questions regarding the number of vacancies in the various departments of the state government in the Vidhan Sabha, but no reply was provided.
During his address at the event, the LG said that he has been personally monitoring the recruitment process, to fill up the permanent vacancies in Delhi government exiting at various levels. “Due to concerted efforts made by all the departments concerned and a transparent recruitment system having been put in place, it has been possible to fill more than 15,000 posts in the last 10 months. A large number of posts of principals in the education department were lying vacant since 2010-2011 and no action in this regard was taken. As of now 324 principals have been recruited through UPSC, which in itself is a significant and landmark achievement. I hope that the newly appointed principals will work with full dedication to create a robust education system in Delhi,” he said.
Saxena also said that the appointment of more than 500 post graduate teachers (PGT) and trained graduate teachers (TGT) has also been made to strengthen the education department. “Besides, the vacant posts in Delhi Fire Service, forensic science laboratory (FSL), Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and planning department have also been filled up on a priority basis,” he added.