'New bunch of lies': Manish Sisodia on L-G's allegation on 126 vacant posts due to AAP apathy

New Delhi [India], February 4 : Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday dismissed the claim of the L-G's office as a "new bunch of lies" after the L-G is said to have approved the revival of 126 posts of school principals which had allegedly lapsed due to apathy and inaction of the AAP government.
"This claim of the LG office is a new bunch of lies and it is a blatant attempt to hide the fact that Central government and LG office has stalled the appointment of Principals in Delhi Government schools for more than 7 years," Sisodia said in a statement.
As per the statement, Sisodia urged the L-G to stop playing "dirty politics".
"First he has stalled foreign travel of teachers to attend training in Finland and now he wants to abolish 244 posts of school principals under the false claim of reviving 126 posts," the statement added.
The deputy chief minister issued a seven-point rebuttal, which as per Sisodia, will expose the "lies and false claims" of the L-G office.
Firstly, "the fact is that right after the formation of the AAP Government under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal in 2015, it approached the UPSC to fill 370 vacant posts of Principals".
Secondly, "In the meantime, in 2015 itself, the services department was unconstitutionally taken away from the purview of the elected government and handed over to LG. Hence, effectively it was LG who was responsible for these appointments and was supposed to act promptly to get these appointments done".
Thirdly, "For the reasons best known to the LG office, these appointments were not allowed to happen for one pretext or the other. So much so, the Education Minister, understanding the pain of running the schools without Principals, held a series of meetings with the services department but they were under direct instructions not to expedite the process. Excuses like, comprehensive study of the requirement of these posts were imposed by the services department, obviously under the instructions of L-G," Sisodia claimed.
Fourthly, "after so much effort by the Education Minister despite repeated stalling by the LG, his office is shamelessly claiming that he has revived 126 posts, hiding the fact that he has actually abolished the 244 school principals' posts on the ground that they are lying vacant for the last more than 5 years," Sisodia counterclaimed in his statement.
Fifthly, "While we welcome, the revival of 126 posts after repeated efforts of the Education Minister but if LG is really sincere and is not playing politics again, he should give a date by which the remaining 244 posts will be revived. He should not hide behind terms like comprehensive study or such lame bureaucratic excuses to obstruct the appointment of Principals in schools," Sisodia said.
Sixthly, "It is a matter of fact that 244 posts of principals are also needed because they exist in the schools which are functioning without principals for so many years. What kind of so-called "comprehensive study" will add more value to the fact that a Principal is needed in a school which is functioning without a Principal!!," Sisodia questioned L-G in his statement.
Seventhly, "Further, instead of claiming credit for the job he himself delayed in the first place, he should place all file notings in the public domain and own up for the delay he himself caused for so many years," Sisodia said in his statement.