New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) After the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, V.K. Saxena, approved the Education Department’s proposal for training programme of primary teachers in Finland on Saturday, the Aam Aadmi party termed the approval a fraud upon the Constitution and the Supreme Court order.
The party said that the L-G has acted like a ‘mini dictator’.
According to AAP, Saxena has returned the amended proposal for Finland teacher training programme after sitting on it for four months and ensuring that the proposal itself became infructuous since the trainings were to be held in December 2022 and March 2023.
Earlier on Saturday, Saxena approved the Education Department’s proposal for training programme for primary in-charges in Finland. However, the L-G has increased the number of primary in-charges, who were to proceed to Finland for training, from 52 to 87 so as to ensure equal representation of primary in-charges from all 29 administrative zones of the Education Department.
“Now more than four months after the file was first submitted to him, the L-G has once again returned the proposal with amendments in flagrant violation of the Constitution and SC orders. In his amended proposal, the L-G has sought to modify the number of teachers to be sent for training, besides seeking to curtail such international training programmes in the future by mandating that the batch of teachers being sent should become trainers for the rest of the teachers,” AAP said.
AAP also said that the L-G’s actions display a complete disregard and disrepect for the advice of SCERT Delhi, the expert body that has overseen all teacher training programmes for several decades.
“L-G’s comments on the file violate SC orders and the Constitution directly. A Constitution bench order dated July 4, 2018 had clearly laid down the law that the L-G of Delhi cannot taken any independent decision on any of the transferred subjects that come under the domain of the elected government, including education,” AAP said.
“The file for the Finland teacher training programme was sent to the L-G in October 2022 to decide whether he wishes to differ with the decision of the Education Minister. According to Rule 49 of the amended Transaction of Business of GNCTD 2021, in case of a difference of opinion between the L-G and the minister regarding any matter, the L-G must endeavour to resolve the difference of opinion through discussion within 15 days. If the difference of opinion persists, the matter is to be referred to the Council of Ministers,” Delhi government said in a statement.
“The Council of Ministers must then deliberate on the issue within 10 days and take a decision. If the matter still remains unresolved or a decision is not taken within the stipulated time period by the Council of Ministers, it is deemed that the difference of opinion continues to persist, and the matter must be referred to the President of India by the L-G for a final decision as per Rule 50,” it added.
Calling L-G’s action as unqualified overreach, Delhi government said that there is no legal or academic basis on which the L-G can substitute the proposal made by an expert body of the government with his own misplaced wisdom.
–IANS
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