New Delhi, January 30
The protesting guest teachers outside the Secretariat today called off their strike after getting a written assurance from Education Minister Manish Sisodia on continuation of their contracts and fixed remunerations till the report of the committee constituted by the Delhi government is submitted.

The teachers had been sitting on dharna for the past 15 days demanding regularisation of their services.

The government had warned of sacking the agitating teachers if they failed to join their duties and had also terminated the contract of a few teachers. The government has appointed a high-level committee to recommend policy guidelines on regularising their services.

The government has also decided that it would not remove any temporary employee till the process of recruitment based on the new criterion is finalised.

"We assure the contractual employees that so long as the committee does not come up with its findings, they will remain employed," Sisodia said. Besides, the written assurance given by the minister also states that the sacked teachers will soon be reappointed.

Sisodia said the government could not bypass the laid-down processes and offer permanent jobs to the agitating employees. It has already set up a committee to formulate policy on regularising services of over one lakh contractual employees working in various departments and agencies.

New Delhi, January 30
Lieutenant Governor (LG) Najeeb Jung today returned the file on the removal of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Barkha Singh to the Delhi government, seeking reasons for the proposed action even as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal justified the stand, saying these bodies should not be headed by politicians.

"The LG has returned the file to us seeking certain clarifications on why the government wants to reconstitute the DCW," a top official in the government said.

The development came just hours after the DCW chief met Jung and complained that the Delhi government wanted to remove her for summoning Law Minister Somnath Bharti in the South Delhi raid episode.

After meeting Jung, Barkha, the former Congress MLA, said she was holding a constitutional post and the Delhi government does not have power to remove her. However, senior officials said as per the DCW Act, 1994, the government has the power to take such action.

"I have handed over a rule book of the DCW to the LG so that he gets to know that the government cannot remove the DCW chairperson. They (Kejriwal and his ministers) have become dictators. They are acting according to their whims and fancies," Barkha said.

The Delhi government yesterday recommended to the LG to reconstitute the commission and proposed Hindi novelist Maitreyi Pushpa's name to head the panel.

"We want experts and non-political persons to head various commissions and boards. Politicians should not head DCW and other commissions and boards. Maitreyi Pushpa is joining on a salary of Re 1," Kejriwal said when asked about the issue the Chief Minister also rejected Barkha's claim that she was being removed for summoning the Law Minister.

"This (Somnath Bharti) is not the reason for seeking removal of Barkha Singh. Bharti's trial was not going at the DCW. The LG has appointed a judicial probe into the case," he said.

The government's move to seek Barkha's removal came five days after she had a public spat with Bharti's lawyers when she refused to allow them to depose before the DCW on the Law Minister's behalf in the case related to midnight raid against African women. The minister had alleged that the women were involved in drug and prostitution racket.

New Delhi, January 30
With strike of contractual workers of DTC demanding regularisation of their jobs entering the fourth day today, commuters are facing a harrowing time across the national Capital.

Although the government has taken a tough stand against the strikers, commuters have no options but to travel in autos, which are taking undue advantage of the situation by charging high rates.

"I waited for the bus for over two hours this afternoon at Rajghat bus stand. Thereafter, I had to take an auto and the driver charged me beyond the meter's readings," Sumit Beigh, a resident of Darya Ganj, said.

Most of the buses at DTC bus depots are not plying on road, resulting in trouble for commuters.

"I didn't find a single bus when I reached Mukherjee Nagar bus stand this morning. I then hired an auto to go to the Old Delhi Railway station," Dr Sunita Gupta, a resident of GTB Nagar, said.

This is fourth consecutive day of strike of the DTC's contractual driver conductors.

"Noida's service of DTC buses has completely been shut. There is no bus after 8 PM in Noida, so we have to wait for hours to get a bus. As Noida's autos do not enter the national capital, we only depend on DTC and UP Roadways' services," Ram Avtar, a resident of Malviya Nagar, said.

The Delhi government had yesterday threatened to sack agitating contractual employees, including DTC workers and guest teachers sitting on dharna demanding regularisation of their services.— PTI

New Delhi, January 30
Upset over the refusal to reinvestigate the Batla House encounter, Congress MLA from Okhla Asif Mohammed Khan today created a ruckus in the press conference of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, which was called to give an account of government's achievements after the completion of one month.

Asif was demanding an enquiry by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the Batla House encounter after the government announced the same for the 1984 riots yesterday.

Khan threatened to withdraw the support to the AAP-led Delhi government and does not care if the Congress takes disciplinary action against him.

"The Congress may punish me for withdrawing support to the government. The AAP has betrayed the people of Delhi on the Batla issue,” said Asif Khan.

When the Chief Minister said that the Delhi government would not form an SIT to investigate the encounter, Khan barged into the room and started shouting slogans against the AAP.

Kejriwal said a court has already given its verdict in the case and the government respected the judicial process. "A court has already given its verdict in the case and we respect the court order. We are not appointing any SIT into the case," the Chief Minister said. Last year, a trial court had convicted suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist Shahzad Ahmed in the Batla House encounter case and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The Delhi government had on Wednesday decided a probe by the SIT into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, two days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said some of the partymen were probably involved in the violence.

New Delhi, January 30
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced formation of a committee for the selection of public prosecutors and government counsels as part of efforts to remove all the political appointees from various departments.

Kejriwal said this step has been taken to abolish 'political' appointments of lawyers in the various government departments.

"Till now all those who were appointed as public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors, besides government counsels in the High Court and lower courts were political appointees. Most of them were either family members or friends of the ruling party. We are abolishing this system," said Kejriwal.

To make the selection process transparent, Kejriwal said there would be independent members in the committee besides the government officials.

"The government has published advertisements in the papers. The committee would examine the resumes and select lawyers. We will appoint eligible people," said Kejriwal.

He blamed the present lot of lawyers in government departments as one of the main reasons for the government losing court cases, besides having low conviction rate.

"Some lawyers cannot speak even a single line properly," Kejriwal said adding that the committee's endeavour would be to appoint efficient lawyers.

The Chief Minister said the government was working towards removing all the political appointees from other departments under its purview which include the governing bodies of colleges.

"Instead of appointing party members in governing bodies of 28 colleges, the government has published advertisements for the posts. Earlier, all such members were appointees of Congress," said Kejriwal.

New Delhi, January 30
The saffron party today launched its 'Ek Note-Kamal Par Vote' campaign. The aim is to touch every household in the city under the Mission 272 plus.

BJP's target is to win more than 272 seats in the parliamentary elections. The party has taken it as a mission -Mission 272 plus.

The campaign was kicked off by BJP national president Rajnath Singh in the presence of a large number of party workers at Constitution Club.

In the month-long campaign, the Delhi BJP will collect donations from every house for the election campaign through 12,000 boxes, each one of which will be taken to a different area in the city. The party workers will also ask the voters to cast a symbolic vote while collecting the money.

Addressing the workers, Rajnath Singh said that the whole country is looking for a change for betterment and the BJP-led NDA has emerged as the only viable alternative.

Singh said this campaign would help strengthen the bond between the people and the party. The workers must try and reach every house. The people of this country are fed with corruption, inflation and the opportunistic policies of Congress-led UPA.

Addressing the workers, Singh said if the party wins all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, it would be a humble contribution to the Mission 272 plus.

The BJP Delhi unit chief, Vijay Goel, urged the workers to expose AAP's U-turn and alliance with the corrupt Congress during this campaign. "There is anarchy in Delhi and people of Delhi are feeling betrayed by the way administration is handled. The AAP government has failed to fulfil its promises. There are many announcements, but the impact on ground is zero," Goel said.