Delhi advisers removal: Uncertainty looms over other co-terminus appointees’ fate

A day after the Delhi government cancelled the appointment of 10 advisers and consultants appointed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation, uncertainty loomed over the fate of dozens of other co-terminus appointees on Wednesday.

The Shunglu Committee, which was formed to look into decisions of the AAP government on over 400 files, had found in its report in 2016 that a total of 42 co-terminus appointments had been made without the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor. Of these 42 appointments, some of which included multiple people, seven were made for the office of Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, while the remaining were for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet.

On Tuesday, 10 of the co-terminus appointments made by the AAP government were cancelled by the General Administration Department and the Health Department acting on the advice from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

‘Wait and watch’

Several sources in the government told The Hindu that the remaining appointments mentioned in the Shunglu Committee report would be looked into, though there was no immediate plan to cancel appointments or initiate recovery of salaries. On the other hand, sources in the AAP dispensation said they would wait and watch, not commenting on whether the fired advisers would move court.

Among those whose appointments were cancelled and were mentioned in the Shunglu Committee report was Atishi Marlena. Ms. Marlena, who was an adviser to Education Minister Manish Sisodia, had been taking a ₹1 per month salary, but the Shunglu Committee said it did not mean there was “nil implication to the exchequer” as there would be expenses on vehicle, office space and staff.

Meanwhile, government sources said that of the 81 co-terminus posts, anywhere between 50 to 70 had been filled.

Though the government is allowed 81 posts, individual posts are combined in order to have one adviser or staff who would be given a higher salary. Government sources privy to the matter said a former aide close to the Chief Minister was behind using the “matching saving” concept, which was mentioned in the Shunglu Committee report.

“The GAD had to work very hard to keep a record of the number of appointments being made by Ministers of various Departments. Some of the appointees were drawing salaries beginning from ₹1 going, in some cases, up to over ₹1 lakh, for a month before they simply stopped coming to work and were replaced by others,” said a government source.

The idea, according to the government source, was to ensure that the burden on the State exchequer did not go beyond the pre-determined corpus for the purpose.

For instance, the Shunglu Committee report said that adviser to the Chief Minister, Gopal Mohan, was appointed as in-charge of the anti-corruption helpline at a salary of ₹1.

But, then he was shifted to the post of adviser (public grievances) as the post had been vacated by someone else. His salary was then hiked to ₹1,15,881 per month.