Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) General Administration Department (GAD) cancelled the appointment of nine party members on Tuesday. These party members were working as advisors and consultants to the Delhi Cabinet in areas such as education, finance and media. The most prominent name which has come up in the cancellation is of Atishi Marlena. Atishi Marlena was working as an advisor to Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia on education.
This is not the first time for AAP having done something which was not under its jurisdiction. The appointment of the 9 advisors was cancelled owing to a letter issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the central government. The MHA had issued a letter containing the order to cancel the appointments as “no prior approval of the central government has been taken for creation of said posts on which these persons have been appointed on co-terminus basis, which is a requirement as per MHA’s rules.”
AAP and its leaders have already started crying foul play due to the decision of the central government. They have raised the issue of Atishi Marlena and other advisors allegedly working for a token amount of Rs. 1/month. They have called it a plot of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to stop the good work being done by the AAP government in Delhi. But isn’t it a silly thing to say? Why don’t the AAP leadership and Arvind Kejriwal understand what they have done? They have created a post out of thin air, a post which should not exist. The token salary being received by the advisors is not the real problem here. The post which has been created by the AAP government in Delhi is.
The Centre is not against the work being done by the advisors or the Delhi government. The AAP leadership can continue to take advice from as many people as it wants. What they cannot do though is create a post which they are not authorized to. The authority of creation of posts, co-terminus or otherwise, comes under the “services” department, a subject which is under the central government in Delhi. The letter also mentions, “Therefore, creation of posts by Delhi cabinet for accommodating these appointees is void ab-initio, being done by an agency not competent under the law to do so.” This letter is a fitting answer to all those who are contesting the cancellation of Atishi Marlena and other advisors.
But, when has an act being deemed unlawful and unconstitutional stopped AAP and Arvind Kejriwal from pursuing what comes to his mind? They will continue to raise hue and cry and blame the centre and everyone else for the cancellation of the illegal appointment of Advisors like Atishi Marlena, Rajat Tiwari and Dinkar Adeeb amongst others. A couple of advisors whose names are listed amongst the 9 have already left the advisor post in the past. Some of them have served for a period lesser than 2 months. Just a reminder of how convenient it is for the AAP government and Kejriwal to use and dispose of posts and people according to his whims and fancies.