New Delhi, February 5: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday accused Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of withholding appointments of 244 principals on "flimsy grounds". This comes a day after Saxena approved 126 posts of principals and deputy education officers in city government schools that had lapsed for remaining "vacant" for more than two years.

At a press conference on Sunday, Sisodia claimed no post have been vacant has the services department been with the Delhi government. "They have an unconstitutional control over the services department," he said, targeting the BJP-led Centre.

"There are 370 posts lying vacant and out of these 370, 126 were approved by LG sir. For the remaining, he has asked us to conduct a study. I want to ask LG sahab: These schools are functioning with the help of vice-principals. How can we conduct the study on feasibility of a principal?" he asked.

He said he will also be writing to Saxena on the matter but urged him to not stop the appointments on remaining posts on "flimsy grounds'". "This is insensitive and unfortunate. LG sahab, please don't make it into a joke. Had the control of Services department been with the Delhi government, these posts would have been filled long back. If there is a need for a study, you can get a study done on whether the LG is needed or not," he said.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj echoed similar views as Sisodia and claimed that when the AAP had come to power in 2015, they had sent a proposal to the Union Public Service Commission for filling 370 vacant posts of principals.

The MLA said that by sanctioning 126 posts, the LG "exposed the lies" of the BJP. The saffron party had allegedly blamed the AAP government for shortage of principals in their schools earlier. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Makes Fresh Plea to LG V K Saxena to Allow Teachers.

"When Punjab elections were underway last year, the BJP and Congress criticised our education system citing no principal in schools. However, the LG himself exposed the lies of the BJP today and sanctioned 126 posts of the principals. When the AAP came to power in 2015 we acknowledged there is a shortage of principals in schools, we had sent a proposal to the UPSC for filling the posts of 370 principals,” Bhardwaj said during a press conference. He claimed that when Manish Sisodia planned the education system of Delhi, he had stressed upon having principals in every school in the city.