Delhi: AAP Govt Claims LG VK Saxena Returned File On Foreign Tour In Violation Of SC Order, Calls Him 'Mini Dictator'

In the latest confronation between the Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has called Saxena a "mini dictator" over non-clearance of a proposed foreign tour of government teachers. 

The AAP-led Delhi government on Saturday claimed that Saxena returned the file on Finland teacher training programme in "flagrant violation" of the Constitution and Supreme Court orders.

What did Delhi LG Saxena do?

However, officials said on Saturday that Saxena gave in-principle approval to the foreign tour but put certain conditions. The issue pertains to the AAP government's proposal to send primary teachers of state-run schools to Finland for training purposes.

Saxena in his approval said he was okaying the proposal in the "interest of facilitating an executive decision — flawed that it may be, rather than joining issues to enable anarchic disruption". He also noted that there was refusal by the Arvind Kejriwal government to bring on record the "impact assessment of the foreign training programmes conducted in the past".

What has AAP-led Delhi government said?

Hitting out at Saxena, the Delhi government in a statement alleged that he returned the proposal after sitting on it for four months and ensuring that it became infructuous since the trainings were to be held in December 2022 and March 2023.

The Delhi government questioned Saxena's expertise on amending the proposal, saying it was prepared by the SCERT, an expert body.

The statement read, "It is extremely unfortunate that the LG is acting like a mini-dictator. He has no right adopting a high moral ground in this matter after having deliberately rejected the whole programme...LG has become a major roadblock to the development of Delhi. His only objective is to somehow stall all good work of the government."

The file for the Finland teacher training programme was first submitted to Saxena on October 25 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 the Delhi government, the statement said.

The statement further said, "However, in blatant violation of the rules, the LG returned the file to Delhi's chief secretary on November 10 last year 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 December 14 last year.

"Thereafter, the LG sought two more clarifications and returned the file to CM on January 9. The then Deputy CM Manish Sisodia sent a detailed reply through Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to LG on January 20."

The LG has once again returned the proposal with amendments "in flagrant violation of the Constitution and SC orders", the statement said.

Citing the Constitution Bench order of the Supreme Court in 2018, the AAP-led Delhi government said the apex court had observed 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.

What has LG Saxena said in amended proposal?

In his amended proposals, Delhi LG Saxena has sought to modify the number of teachers to be sent for further training, and has also sought to curtail such international training programmes in the future by mandating that the batch of teachers being sent should become teacher trainers for rest of the teachers, the government noted.

It alleged, "The LG's actions display a complete disregard and disrepect for the advice of SCERT Delhi, the expert body that has overseen all teacher training programmes in Delhi for several decades...What is all the more unfortunate is that the LG's delaying tactics have caused the cancellation of the training programme 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."

Earlier in the day, an LG House official had said that the decision on the proposal was pending due to the AAP government's reluctance to provide details of the impact assessment and analysis of similar foreign training programmes funded by it in the past.

In his approval note, the LG has said that a "smear political campaign was perpetrated" over the issue, which the government called "baffling".

"It is shameful that the Delhi LG is resorting to such propaganda even after forcing the elected CM and almost five 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," it said.

Calling LG's action as unqualified overreach, Delhi government said that 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".

(With PTI inputs)