New Delhi:

In a last minute intervention, Delhi LG VK Saxena overturned the postponement of elections for the last vacant seat of the standing committee and directed the MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar to submit a report by 10 pm Thursday.

Mr Saxena directed that the deputy mayor be made the presiding officer for the elections if the mayor refuses to hold the elections.

In case the deputy mayor also refuses, the senior-most member of the House will preside over the elections, he ordered.

Earlier in the day, following disruption over frisking of councillors, the election to MCD Standing Committee was postponed by the Mayor, who adjourned the meeting of the House till October 5.

Mayor Shelly Oberoi claimed it was for the the first time a security check of the councillors had happened, and called it undemocratic and insulting for the members of the House.

The LG order read, “The Commissioner is hereby directed to submit a report of conduct of elections of the sixth member of standing committee by 10 pm today ie on 26.09.2024 positively.

“In case the Mayor is unavailable or refuses to preside over the meeting. the Deputy Mayor may be requested to preside over the meeting for conduct of elections.

“In case both are unwilling or unavailable, the seniormost member in order of seniority may be requested to discharge this function.” Following the order, MCD commissioner issued an instruction for the conduct of the elections for the 6th member of the standing committee.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Lt Governor VK Saxena Thursday ordered the termination of the seven teachers appointed at the Delhi Tamil Education Association in 2022 allegedly on forged documents, and also approved a CBI inquiry into the matter, the Raj Niwas said in a statement. Mr Saxena has also asked for scrutiny of records of recruitment at government-aided schools over the last 10 years and constituted a committee to study the appointment process in these schools, the statement said.

The action by the LG came over the recommendation of the Delhi government’s Directorate of Vigilance that found an alleged “collusion” between the Education Department and the school management in the said appointments, it said.

No immediate reaction was available from the Education Department and the school management concerned.

While terminating the seven TGT and PGT teachers, the LG approved the recommendation of the vigilance department for a CBI probe into their appointment at the Delhi government-aided school allegedly through the use of forged documents, it said.

“The LG agreed with the proposal of the DoV, which found a prima facie collusion between the officials of the Directorate of Education and the Delhi Tamil Education Association (DTEA), where 51 candidates were appointed to various posts in the year 2022.

“However, it was found that 7 selected teachers for TGT and PGT posts had submitted fake experience certificates,” read the statement.

The forged experience certificate was crucial in securing the job as each year of experience gave one extra mark to the candidate, it stated.

As per the terms and conditions of the Education Department, the school management was required to verify all the certificates of the selected candidates.

“While the certificates needed to be verified by seeking and obtaining appointment letters, details of payments made along with bank details, copy of attendance register of the school showing their attendance, none of these criteria was fulfilled by the school management,” it alleged.

The matter was placed before the Delhi chief secretary who directed to carry out the physical verification of the experience certificates issued by the respective schools.

The experience certificates submitted by three candidates were found to be “fake”. However, experience certificates of the remaining four candidates were verified by the respective schools, but not supported by documentary evidence, it said.

The CBI is already investigating a similar criminal case involving another government-aided school, Vedic Sanskrit Senior Secondary School, Khera Garhi, in the capital where appointments were made on the basis of alleged “fake” documents, it said.

The committee formed by the LG to study the recruitment process in government-aided schools and suggest measures to streamline the process, headed by the additional chief secretary (general administration department) will have a special secretary (Finance) and secretary (education) as members while the director (education) will be its convener, added the statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)