Legal dispute stalls chief’s appointment at One Stop Centre in Jahangirpuri

The government removed the Kusum Lata, the administrator of the centre in Jahangirpuri in December last year and subsequently promoted a case worker to the post.

A One Stop Centre (OSC) meant to give women facing violence immediate access to counselling, legal aid and temporary shelter has been operating without a centre administrator for the past few weeks following a legal dispute over the previous chief’s removal, HT has learnt.

Kusum Lata said the case was pending before CAT, which at a recent hearing, revoked the appointment of her successor. (FILE)

The government removed Kusum Lata, the administrator of the centre operating out of Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital in Jahangirpuri in December last year and subsequently promoted a case worker to the post.

But the former administrator challenged the appointment before the Central Administrative Tribunal. Asked, Kusum Lata told HT that the case was pending before CAT, which at a recent hearing, revoked the appointment of her successor.

She said the authorities terminated her services in December 2025 without citing any reasons. “I started working at the OSC in 2019 and ran it without any financial aid from the government. Whenever I asked for bills to be cleared, I didn’t get a response. After my termination, I went to the CAT against the appointment of another administrator and my wrongful termination. CAT then asked to revoke the new hiring. The matter is going on now,” she said.

Asked about the appointment of a full-time administrator, a senior government official said, “The reason why we are unable to hire a centre administrator is that the matter is sub judice”.

The administrative tussle has added to the problems plaguing this OSC, which is meant to provide women facing domestic violence, sexual abuse and other forms of gender-based violence with medical assistance, police intervention, legal aid, counselling and temporary shelter under one roof.

The absence of an administrator has left the facility dependent on three multi-tasking staff members working in shifts, raising questions about how cases are being managed and followed up.

A staffer, on the condition of anonymity, said, “A contractual employee who visits once a week gets calls which victims make on the women’s helpline 181. She diverts them to the staffers here,” she said without sharing further how they help the women in distress.

In 2025, HT’s ground report on OSCs in Delhi showed how the problems were not limited to staffing. Across Delhi’s OSCs, the ground report flagged inadequate infrastructure, vacancies and inconsistent availability of essential services, including counselling and legal assistance.

Launched in Delhi in November 2019, the centres are intended to offer coordinated support to women in distress. The Union ministry of women and child development’s guidelines envisage round-the-clock services, including counselling, police assistance, legal aid and temporary shelter.

Chief minister Rekha Gupta earlier this year promised 11 additional centres, one in each district.