Disengaged Delhi Assembly Research Centre fellows approached the Delhi High Court on Thursday, urging it to reinstate its earlier direction for the continuation of their services.
These professionals had previously challenged the termination of their services and are now seeking payment for the period they have already served.
A bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the respondent authorities – the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, Finance Department, and Services Department – to provide their stand and instructed their counsel to seek instructions.
Last month, the court had vacated its interim direction for the continuation of the fellows’ services, stating that after the Supreme Court declined to stay the terminations, propriety demanded that the high court should not have issued the interim order. The counsel for the petitioners argued that the Supreme Court had clarified that the issue was never considered, and the interim order should be reinstated. The court directed that the matter be listed for hearing next week.
On September 21, the court had directed that the services of the terminated fellows with the Delhi Assembly Research Centre should continue until December 6, and stipends would be paid to them. The services of these fellows were terminated prematurely, and they argued that this was done in an arbitrary and illegal manner. They claimed that the discontinuation of their services and non-payment of stipends violated their fundamental rights and constituted a “colourable exercise of power.”
The fellows asserted that the interference by the services and finance departments violated the doctrine of separation of powers since the Delhi Assembly Research Centre operates under the aegis of the legislative assembly and the speaker. They contended that their services could not be terminated in the manner they were, and that the Delhi legislative assembly and the city government were bound by their promise to engage the petitioners as per the terms of their service.
