Lieutenant Governor of Delhi sacks 223 employees of Women Commission

In a major action, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has sacked 223 employees from Delhi Women Commission with immediate effect. It is alleged that the then chairperson of Delhi Women Commission, Swati Maliwal, had appointed her without permission, going against the rules.

The order has cited the DCW Act, which states that only 40 posts are sanctioned in the commission and the DCW does not have the authority to appoint employees on contract.

In this order issued by the Additional Director of DCW Department, it has also been said that before the new appointments, no evaluation of the essential posts was done nor was permission taken for additional financial burden.

This action has been taken on the basis of the investigation report submitted to the then Lieutenant Governor in February 2017.

On this, Swati Maliwal tweeted, "LG Saheb has issued an order to remove all the contract staff of DCW. Today there are a total of 90 staff in the Women's Commission, out of which only 8 people are given by the government and the rest are 3- They are on contract for 3 months. If they are removed then the Women's Commission will be closed."

AAP has repeatedly accused the Lieutenant Governor's office of blocking the steps of its administration. The Lieutenant Governor is a central appointee and AAP has accused the ruling BJP of not allowing him to function independently. This case comes at a time when AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in jail after being arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in the now-defunct liquor policy.