New Delhi : The Delhi government has termed Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's decision on the Finland Teacher Training programme as a "fraud" upon the Constitution and the Supreme Court, and said that the L-G has acted like a "mini-dictator". In a statement, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's government said, "The L-G has returned an amended proposal for the Finland Teacher Training programme, after sitting on it for four months and ensuring that the proposal itself became infructuous since the training was to be held in December 2022 and March 2023.
The statement reads, "The file for the Finland teacher training programme was first submitted to the LG office on 25/10/2022 for him to consider if he wished to invoke a difference of opinion and refer it to the President of India within 15 days, as per Transaction of Business Rules of GNCTD. However, in blatant violation of the rules, the LG returned the file to Delhi's Chief Secretary on 10/11/2022 raising three objections. The SCERT Delhi, the expert body that oversees teacher training activities, clarified those points and resubmitted the file to the LG on 14/12/2022."
"Thereafter, the LG sought two more clarifications and returned the file to CM on 9/1/2023. The then Deputy CM Manish Sisodia sent a detailed reply through Hon'ble CM to LG on 20/1/2023." the statement added. It further said, "Now after more than 4 months since the file was first submitted to him, the LG has once again returned the proposal with amendments in flagrant violation of the Constitution and SC orders. In his amended proposal, the LG has sought to modify the number of teachers to be sent for further training, and also sought to curtail such international training programs in the future by mandating that the batch of teachers being sent should become teacher trainers for the rest of the teachers."
"The LG's actions display a complete disregard and disrespect for the advice of SCERT Delhi, the expert body that has overseen all teacher training programs in Delhi for several decades."
"The LG's actions further demonstrate what he has been repeatedly saying that he is not bound by the Constitution and SC orders. LG's comments on the file violate SC orders and Constitution directly. The Constitution Bench order dt. 04.07.2018 of the Supreme Court had clearly laid down the law that the LG of Delhi cannot take any independent decision on any of the transferred subjects that come under the domain of the elected government, including education," it further added.
Further, it said, "The file for the Finland teacher training program was sent to LG in October 2022 to decide whether he wishes to differ with the decision of the Minister. According to Rule 49 of the amended Transaction of Business of GNCTD 2021, in case of a difference of opinion between the LG and the Minister regarding any matter, the LG must endeavor 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."
"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 Hon'ble President by the LG for a final decision as per Rule 50," it added.
"In this case, when the file was first sent to the LG on 25/10/2022, the LG had only 15 working days to decide whether he differs with the opinion of the Minister and if so, refer it to the President of India after asking for a Cabinet decision. But in flagrant violation of all established laws, the LG sat on the file for more than four months and raised repeated objections. He has finally sent back the file with amendments, fully knowing he has no right to write anything on the file altering the decision of the Minister or Council of Ministers."
It also said, "What is all the more unfortunate is that the LG's delaying tactics have caused the cancellation of the training program altogether. The first batch of government school teachers was scheduled to go to Finland in December 2022, but they could not go because of repeated objections raised by the LG at that time. The next batch was due for March 2023, but the file was pending in the LG's office for more than a month, leading to its cancellation as well."
"It is baffling that the LG has alleged the elected government of Delhi of "perpetrating a smear political campaign" in the perusal of this file. It is shameful that the Delhi LG is resorting to such propaganda even after forcing the elected CM and almost 5 dozen legislators to march on the streets demanding the approval of this file. The CM, along with the legislators waited for hours to meet the LG but he refused to meet them then," the Kejriwal government also said.
Calling LG's action an unqualified overreach, the Kejriwal government said, "There is no legal or academic basis on which LG can substitute the proposal developed by an expert body of the government with his own misplaced wisdom. What expertise does the LG or his office have on such academic matters to overrule the recommendation of the Government's own specialized body? The proposal for this training was prepared by SCERT Delhi which is an academic authority of the Delhi Government under the provision of the Right to Education Act 2009. It is a specialized body of the Delhi Government having expertise in academic matters. Shortlisting criteria for the first two batches of training were created by the Primary Branch of the Directorate of Education, Govt of NCT Delhi.
Thereafter the senior officials of the Education Department vetted the proposal. LG was required to merely give administrative approval." "It is extremely unfortunate that LG is acting like a mini dictator. He has no right to adopt a high moral ground in this matter after having deliberately rejected the whole program. LG has become a major roadblock to the development of Delhi His only objective is to somehow stall all good works of the government." the statement concluded.