Employees who were sacked due to backdoor recruitment in the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha sat on a five-day dharna outside the Vidhan Sabha. During this, the employees protested and raised slogans against the government. There, he demanded reappointment. Employees say that after the formation of the state, under the same rules, employees have been appointed in the Assembly Secretariat on an ad hoc basis, but only 228 employees appointed after 2016 were dismissed. The employees are demanding that either they should be reinstated or the employees engaged since the formation of the state till 2016 should also be dismissed.
There are the matter
On September 3, 2022, Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan constituted a three-member expert inquiry committee under the chairmanship of former IAS officer DK Kotia when questions were raised on recruitment from backdoor in the assembly. The inquiry committee had handed over the report to the Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha on September 22, 2022, within 20 days, after examining the appointments made on an ad-hoc basis from the formation of the state till 2021. The committee found in the investigation that the appointments were made on an ad hoc basis against the rules. On September 23, on the report of the committee, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly canceled the total 228 appointments made from 2016 to 2021 and dismissed the employees. After this, when the employees went to the High Court, they were disappointed there too. At the same time, recently the Supreme Court also rejected the petition of the employees.
Ready to face punishment if I am also an accused in assembly recruitment case: Kunjwal
Former Assembly Speaker and Congress leader Govind Singh Kunjwal has accused the government and Speaker Ritu Khanduri of adopting double standards in the matter of dismissal of employees in the Assembly. He said that if the appointments are illegal, then strict action should be taken against the appointees. If he is also accused then he is ready to face the punishment. He said that the Vidhan Sabha had constituted a team of expert committee to investigate the matter. The expert committee made it clear that after the formation of the state all the appointments in the Vidhansabha are wrong. If the court also declares these appointments as illegal, then action should be taken against the speakers who gave the appointments. There should be an inquiry against him and other speakers. So that this kind of messing with the youth does not happen in future.
Clear Violation of Article 16
He said that right to equality Article 16 makes it clear that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State. In such a situation, by making the appointments from 2001 to 2016 valid and the appointments from 2016 onwards illegal, the government has flouted the Right to Equality Act, while the appointments made in the year 2016 were declared valid by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Cancel all appointments immediately
Kunjwal said that if the appointments in the Vidhansabha have been done in a wrong way, then all the appointments made from 2001 to 2022 should be canceled immediately, otherwise the employees after 2016 who were removed under malicious politics should be reinstated. He said, however, that the government would not do so because the appointments made in the assembly before 2016 were tainted by the proximity of BJP ministers.
Questions raised on the role of Speaker Ritu Khanduri
Kunjwal said that Speaker Ritu Khanduri, who looted accolades by terminating the services of post-2016 employees in the assembly, is under question. She said that due to personal reasons, she is working to save the backdoor recruits before 2016 in the assembly. He himself has confessed by filing a counter in the High Court. Even after this, to save those before 2016, he has now even put his reputation at stake.
Before 2016, there are many employees who were illegally recruited in the Vidhansabha, who were appointed in the Vidhansabha when BC Khanduri was the Chief Minister. In this, relatives of many high profile people including the daughter of tourism advisor of the then CM BC Khanduri are included.
Action which the Speaker is declaring as the victory of truth is an incomplete and false truth. The DK Kotia Committee constituted by the Speaker himself has also made it clear in its report No. 12 that all the recruitments since the formation of the state till now are illegal.
