SC notice to Delhi LG on Finland training for teachers

On Monday, advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for the AAP government, submitted before the top court bench that the law is clear that the LG cannot take independent decisions.

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response from lieutenant governor VK Saxena on a petition moved by the Delhi government against the LG’s mandate, prohibiting government school teachers from travelling abroad to receive training.

Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena was given the notice on a petition by the Delhi government in which it claimed that the LG did not allow state government school teachers to go to Finland for training. (HT Photo)

A bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud issued a notice to the LG and listed the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi and Saxena have had several run-ins over the control of the Capital since May 26, 2022, when the latter took over as LG. One of the flashpoints in their longstanding feud is Saxena’s decision to seek a cost-benefit analysis on sending a group of Delhi school teachers for training in Finland.

On January 16, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had led ministers, MLAs and party workers to the LG’s residence, demanding an immediate approval of the government’s proposal to send 30 teachers to Finland for training. On March 4, the L-G cleared some of the teachers for the Finland programme but mandated against such exercises in future.

Challenging Saxena’s mandate, the petition pointed out that even though the proposal was first submitted to the LG in October 2022, it was only approved on March 4, 2023, subject to several amendments and conditions, rendering the proposal infructuous.

“While granting the approval, the LG has stated that such teachers trained in said programme shall only become trainers in India and that in future, there was no need for such training programmes to be conducted abroad, instead, they should be conducted within India. In this context, the petitioner (Delhi government) is seeking a re-declaration of the well-settled position of law that the Governor is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers and has no independent decision-making power,” said the petition.

The plea sought direction to set aside the order passed by the LG on March 4, and affirm the proposal of the Delhi government’s State Council of Educational Research and Training (SECRT) to send primary in-charge teachers at government schools for training abroad.