New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS): Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena on Saturday approved the revival of 126 posts of principal/deputy education officer of the government schools, an official said.

"In a move that would help the woefully short-staffed education department of GNCTD, especially at the cutting-edge level, the Lt. Governor has approved the revival of 126 posts of principal/deputy education officer that had lapsed due to the fact that they were lying vacant for more than two years," the L-G Secretariat said in a statement.

Meanwhile, he has also put on hold a proposal to abolish 244 posts of principal deputy education officer as proposed by Education Department, as those posts had also been lying vacant for more than five years.

The L-G has asked the Education Department "to submit a suitable proposal for abolition/creation of posts of principal/deputy education officer after getting the comprehensive study conducted by the AR Department, as pointed out by the Services Department."

It may be noted that government rules provide for posts lying vacant for more than two years to be considered as "deemed abolished" and for those lying vacant for more than five years to be "considered abolished".

These 370 posts (126 deemed abolished posts and 244 considered abolished posts), were supposed to have been filled in through promotion as per the recruitment rules, by the directorate of education from the year 2013-14 to 2019," the statement read.

With regards to the proposal for abolition of 244 posts of principal, the services department had advised the AR department to carry out a comprehensive study in one go, while noting that 'the post of a principal is a crucial post for the functioning of the education department and in this way, the exercise of abolition/creation of posts need not be taken up time and again'.

However, despite the observations of the services department, the directorate of education moved the proposal for abolition of 244 posts of principals, the statement read.