Speaker allows Assembly Fellows to be reinstated

: In compliance with the Delhi High Court orders, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel has directed the reinstatement of professionals engaged as fellows and associate fellows with the Delhi Assembly Research Centre whose contracts were terminated recently.

The Delhi High Court had last week directed that the services of these DARC fellows be continued till December 6 and stipends paid to them.

“Thus, in view of the decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Article 14 of the Constitution of India, and to avoid burdening the court with unnecessary litigation, I hereby reinstate the Fellows, Associate Fellows and Associate Fellows (Media) who are affected by the order dated 09.08.2023, and further direct that due stipends be paid to them. This would be subject to further orders of the Hon’ble High Court...” read the order issued by the Legislative Assembly Secretariat. The Legislative Assembly Secretariat had issued orders for disengagement of 116 fellows under the Delhi Assembly Research Centre Fellowship Programme in August, days after Parliament passed a Bill related to services matters in the national capital. The Legislative Assembly Secretariat had issued an order earlier in August discontinuing the engagement of the fellows, but later said the decision has been kept in abeyance till further directions. Delhi L-G V K Saxena recently terminated the services of around 400 “specialists” appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government, a move the AAP dispensation termed “unconstitutional”