The Aam Aadmi Party-dominated Delhi Assembly on Wednesday passed a motion of privilege against the officers who discontinued the appointment of 116 fellows of its research centre and referred the matter to its privileges committee.
Charing the session, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla, after the motion was passed by the House, referred the matter to the privileges committee of the Legislative Assembly and directed it to submit a report in one month.
AAP MLA Sanjiv Jha, who presented the motion during the first day of the special session, said the removal of the fellows was contempt of the House.
He also alleged that some BJP leaders including Shehzad Poonawala, MP Parvesh Verma and Kapil Mishra spread rumours that some of the appointed fellows were relatives of AAP MLAs and leaders, including him as well.
Jha said he has filed defamation cases against such leaders.
Jha defended the appointment of 116 fellows at the Delhi Assembly Research Centre (DARC) saying they were highly qualified and selected through written test and interview by experts of Delhi Technological University.
He alleged that the removal of the fellows was aimed at hampering Delhi government’s work as they were providing vital inputs related to policy and programmes besides helping the legislators in conducting their day to affairs in a well informed manner.
He said the move was also aimed at “defaming” the AAP government.
Last week, the Delhi Assembly secretariat issued orders for disengagement of 116 fellows under the DARC programme.
This comes after the Services department following directions of the Delhi LG ordered termination of appointments of advisors, consultants and fellows in different government departments and the Assembly in July.
It was alleged that the appointments were made without approval of the LG and the reservation rules were also not followed.
BJP MLAs, including Vijender Gupta and Ajay Mahawar, opposed the motion.
“I fail to understand how a matter of administrative irregularity in appointment of fellows can be treated as a contempt of the House. It appears to be an instance of revenge and you (AAP) are bringing it just to release your frustration,” Gupta said.
Mahawar questioned the utility of appointment of fellows and expressed suspicion that it appeared to him they were hired to keep watch on the MLAs and their activities.
AAP MLA Madan Lal objected to Mahawar’s claim and advised him not to speak in such manner as the “fellows who were highly qualified helped the legislators through their research work”.
“The fellows were appointed by the House, their removal is a matter of contempt of the House. I urge this matter to be referred to the privileges committee,” said the AAP MLA.
He also alleged that the BJP was hampering AAP government’s work because it was “scared that it could gain power at the Centre as well”.
Supporting the motion, AAP MLA Vinay Mishra hit out at the BJP and its government at the Centre saying why an exception was made of Delhi when such fellows were also appointed in many other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhan and Jharkhand.
Former Cabinet minister and AAP MLA Rajendra Pal Gautam also supported the motion and appealed to the House and the government that representation of all the classes of the society in future appointment of fellows should be followed.
The motion was passed by voice vote in the House dominated by the AAP that has 62 MLAs against eight of the BJP.
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