The Kejriwal govt has clarified that the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board, which set the paper, fell under the lieutenant governor’s charge.
New Delhi: The Delhi government’s exam to recruit primary school teachers has been widely censured for a deeply “casteist, racist, and gender-insensitive” question in the Hindi language and comprehension section.
The exam was held over the weekend, but the exact question wasn’t immediately clear. The question paper was set by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB), the city-state government’s recruitment agency.
The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes minister in the Delhi government, Rajendra Pal Gautam, said he would approach the chief secretary for action against the board.
“This one abominable act has hurt the dignity of Indian Constitution, Hindi, women and the rich and diverse culture of this country,” he added.
“It also shows how deep-rooted the casteist and misogynist mentality is in our society,” he said. “Was the question paper not evaluated internally? If evaluated, who are the people who allowed it?”
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Approached for comment, a DSSSB official declined, saying, “I’m not authorised to speak to the media and I’ve nothing to do with the setting of the question paper.
“It is Sunday. Please ask the concerned officers on Monday, when the department opens.”
‘Under the L-G’
Gautam said the services department, the governing body of the DSSSB, must come clean on how this happened, adding that it fell under the lieutenant governor of Delhi.
In doing so, he invoked the longstanding tug-of-war that has been underway between the Delhi administration and the lieutenant-governor since the AAP government assumed office in 2015. Control of the services department is one of the several issues marring the relationship.
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In July, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had sought to settle the battle of primacy between the two offices by reiterating that the lieutenant governor of Delhi was bound by the “aid and advice” of the elected government.
After the ruling, the LG wrote a letter to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying that ‘services’ should continue to stay with the former as the court had not explicitly stated otherwise. The Delhi government has moved court again for a clarification.