Alleging that he was kept out of the loop by officials, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday asked Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to put the teacher recruitment process, started by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) recently, on hold till the guest teachers working in Delhi government schools could be given preference.
On Monday, the DSSSB had advertised thousands of vacancies for teachers in Delhi government and municipal schools.
‘Haven’t seen file’
In a letter to Mr. Baijal, Mr. Sisodia said that DSSSB officials didn’t show him the file regarding recruitment, which they were supposed to as he holds the Education portfolio and is therefore the Minister-in-charge of the issue.
While the ad said that guest teachers would get an “age relaxation”, there was “no mention of weightage or preference” given to them in the recruitment process.
The Delhi Cabinet had decided on October 6, 2015, to give guest teachers a relaxation in age and preference in the recruitment of permanent teachers.
The then Lieutenant-Governor, Najeeb Jung, had only allowed age relaxation on May 30, 2016, citing court orders not to allow preferences, said Mr. Sisodia.
However, citing subsequent Supreme Court orders that upheld the policy of giving ad-hoc teachers weightage in recruitment of permanent teachers, Mr. Sisodia said he had asked Chief Secretary M. M. Kutty and the Directorate of Education (DoE) to come up with a suitable policy.
“It is a surprise to me that such an ad was issued by the DSSSB despite my repeated instructions,” said Mr. Sisodia, adding that officials had told him that the file was sent directly to the L-G by the DoE, which was acting on directions of the L-G office.
‘Under L-G’s control’
Mr. Sisodia said that the officials told him that this was done due to the Delhi High Court ruling in August 2016, which put all matters of city services under L-G’s control.
“While services is a subject that comes in your purview, education is an area that comes within ours [elected government], and we are responsible for ensuring that every child in Delhi has access to high quality education,” said Mr. Sisodia.
He added that if the recruitment process is not halted, then 17,000 guest teachers currently working in government schools could lose their jobs.
Mr. Sisodia asked the L-G to put the recruitment process on hold till a suitable policy could be formulated.
