Row over dismissal of Delhi Commission for Women workers

AAP attacks the L-G, appointed by BJP-led Centre, for sacking hundreds of women’s panel employees just before Deepavali; BJP alleges that the appointments were made in violation of norms, and many of those hired were ‘party-affiliated persons’

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP on Tuesday engaged in a war of words over the dismissal of hundreds of contractual employees of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

The commission had, through an order on Monday, terminated the services of all its (around 250-300) contractual employees with immediate effect. The DCW’s decision was based on an order by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department dated April 29, which had been approved by Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena.

While WCD Minister Kailash Gahlot appealed to the L-G to immediately revoke the order, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia condemned the “unfair and arbitrary” manner in which the L-G, appointed by the BJP-ruled Centre, “rendered hundreds of breadwinners jobless just before Deepavali”.

Mr. Sisodia said the manner in which DCW employees with over 30 years of service had been dismissed overnight was “disgraceful and inhuman”.

“The BJP leaders talk about providing jobs in their speeches and manifestos. But dismissing people who have worked on contractual basis for such long periods reflects the true character of the party,” he said.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, in a post in Hindi on X, said, “I assure my sisters from DCW, I will do whatever it takes to get their jobs back.”

‘Disregard for process’

In response, the BJP accused the Delhi government of appointing the workers without following due administrative procedures, leading to the termination of their services.

“The AAP government showed complete disregard for the rules while filling thousands of contractual and coterminous posts. Besides, many of those employed were party-affiliated individuals,” said Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva.

He alleged that AAP leaders “are making a lot of noise” over the issue now even though they “never bothered about the needs of the contractual employees who had not received their salaries for the past 10 months”.

Published - October 23, 2024 12:35 am IST