New Delhi: All proposed transfers and postings related to Delhi’s Group A officers and civil servants will require the approval of the Union territory’s services minister before they are placed before the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA), the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government announced Wednesday.
Group A officials are the highest class of government employees and include civil servants.
At a press conference held at the Delhi Assembly, Services Minister Atishi said the Delhi government has a new mechanism for coordination between its departments and the NCCSA — the controversial three-member body constituted by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to make recommendations on transfer and postings of Delhi’s Group A officers.
The new order came on the back of a standoff between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government and the Narendra Modi-led central government over the controversial Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023. The law, which got presidential assent on 12 August, replaces an ordinance under which the controversial NCCSA was first set up.
The NCCSA is chaired by Delhi’s chief minister, and also has the chief secretary and principal secretary (home department), as members. It gives its recommendations to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, who has the final say on all matters of transfers and postings.
Under the new order, all vigilance and non-vigilance-related matters concerning such officers will also require the minister’s approval, Atishi said.
“The government has taken a decision to conduct the NCCSA’s meetings as soon as possible. Today, I have passed an order that there should be coordination between the government’s departments and the NCCSA,” the minister said.
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Power to make laws
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 — known simply as the Delhi services ordinance — was promulgated by the Modi government on 19 May, nullifying the Supreme Court’s 11 May judgment that ruled in favour of Delhi’s elected government having control of the civil servants working under it.
Under the ordinance — as under the new law — NCCSA gives its recommendations to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor on matters regarding transfer, posting and vigilance matters of all Group A and Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Island Civil Services (DANICS) officers.
The law also gives the L-G the power to differ with the authority’s recommendations and a final say where there are differences of opinion.
The ordinance — as well as the law that eventually replaced it — sparked a standoff between Delhi’s Kejriwal government and the Modi government, with the former accusing the latter of violating the rules of federalism.
However, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act dropped certain provisions that were in the ordinance. For instance, the legislation dropped Section 3A of the ordinance, which said Delhi’s Legislative Assembly will not have the power to make laws on any matter relating to the civil services.
According to a senior Delhi government official, the removal of this section allows the assembly to make such laws as long as they are not in conflict with the act.
“The bill (now act) has provisions that state the minister of a concerned department can issue directions for the disposal of a proposal,” a senior Delhi government official told ThePrint.
According to Section 45(I) the act, the minister-in-charge of a department can issue directions that he or she deems fit for the disposal of proposals or matters in their department. However, provision qualifies this by saying that it can be done as long as the directions are not in contravention to the Constitution or any other law.
Atishi said at the press conference that while her government has challenged the law in the Supreme Court, “until a verdict is delivered, we will respect the amendments as a law, since it has been passed in Parliament”.
She added: “This is to ensure the work for the city’s people doesn’t stop. The chief minister (Kejriwal) will attend the NCCSA’s meetings”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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