Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) saw 223 of its employees being terminated by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. These contractual employees were reportedly appointed by Swati Maliwal, the then chairperson of DCW, without seeking permission for the same from the lieutenant governor and the finance department.
As per the inquiry report, the actual number of sanctioned posts was only 40, while the remaining were appointed without the approval of the said authorities. According to the additional director, Women and Child Development Department, the DCW had no authority to appoint these employees on contract; that no assessment was made to understand the actual need of these additional employees; and that no clear guidelines/processes were followed to hire or gauge the eligibility or suitability of the candidates either.
It has also been pointed out that no applications were issued for the posts and no sanction was sought for the budget to employ these employees from the Delhi government. It was also highlighted that the said employees were neither assigned any tasks nor given any formal responsibilities or roles.
Meanwhile, Maliwal has pointed out on social media that out of the existing 90-strong staff at DCW, only eight have been appointed by the Government the rest being hired for three-month contracts. Her post drew attention to the fact that if all the contract staff of DCW were terminated, the Commission will have no employees left, and would have to stop functioning altogether.