And its back: Day after SC verdict AAP order returned by bureaucrats

New Delhi, July 5: Just a day after the Supreme Court order and the Aam Aadmi Party hailed it as a major victory, a file has been returned citing that it was legally incorrect. The Delhi government had introduced a new system for transfer and posting of bureaucrats, making the Chief Minister as the approving authority.

However, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was told by the services department that the order issued by him cannot be implemented as it was "legally incorrect".

The bureaucrats have claimed that the service matters still lie with the office of the Lieutenant Governor because Delhi is a union territory. The officials say that a May 2015 notification of the Ministry for Home Affairs which said that service matters fall under the purview of the LG has not been set aside by the Supreme Court.

According to the order issued by Sisodia, the chief minister will approve transfers of IAS, DANICS, all-India services officers, equivalent officers of the central civil services and provincial civil services. Such orders were earlier being approved by the L-G.