DCW chief alleges predecessor recruited wives of babus

New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) Delhi Commission for Women ChiefSwati Maliwal has alleged that her predecessor Barkha Shuklarecruited wives of IAS and IPS officials for 49 contractualposts that were never advertised. The allegations have been made by Maliwal in her responseto the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which had conducted asearch at her office last week on Shukla’s complaint. "Barkha Shukla Singh made 49 contractual appointments andappointed wives of IAS and IPS officers without givingadvertisements and over 2,500 cases were pending when Iassumedcharge," Maliwal claimed. "Present commission has handled 12000 complaints comparedto 3500 by previous commission. We have also given over 50recommendations to government in one year as compared to therecommendations given by previous commission in entire tenureof 8 years," she further claimed. The ACB had last week carried out searches at DCW officehere in connection with complaints by a former chief secretaryand Barkha Shukla, triggering an angry reaction from ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal. In her complaint, Barkha had claimed that several AAPsupporters were given plum posts in the women’s panel, anallegation strongly denied by Maliwal, who attributed theincreased staff strength to the "increase" in the amount ofwork being handled by DCW since she took over in July lastyear. Refuting the allegations, Maliwal said that Barkha’scomplaint against her was "politically motivated". "The present complaint is politically motivated, mala fideand that no illegal appointments have been made in thecommission during the tenure of the present panel," Maliwalsaid. PTI GJS BSA ZMNKIS