New Delhi: Two members of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday dismissed as "malicious" its former chief Swati Maliwal's allegations against the AAP government and urged her not to seek political gains out of the struggle of over 700 women employed by the panel who have not got their salaries.
Panel members Firdos Khan and Kiran Negi, who wrote to Maliwal, also accused Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena of withholding the commission's funds. Their letters came a day after Maliwal wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing his government of "systematically dismantling" the commission after she resigned as its chairperson in January. She resigned following her nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
There was no immediate reaction from either Maliwal or the office of the LG on Khan and Negi's letters, the subject lines of which read: "Request to stop using struggle of 700+ women for personal political gains". The content of the two letters was the same.
"Over 700 women who have been employed in the commission and various grant programmes across the city have been left without any salary since November 2023 but you have made the struggle of these women only about yourself and have made statements that the attack on DCW started after your resignation," the letters read.
The withholding of funds since November last year on the "express directions of the Hon'ble LG has been done to ensure that the credible works of the elected government are destroyed", they alleged.
"You (Maliwal) are also aware that the flimsy grounds on which funds are being denied to the DCW have been challenged in the Hon'ble High Court and despite Hon'ble High Court's directions WCD ( Delhi women and child development department) has still not released the funds only because of the backing of the Hon'ble LG," read the letters.
