IAS officers' posting to be decided by govt concerned: HC told

The AAP government today submitted before the Delhi High Court that once an IAS officer is allocated to it by the Centre, the question of deciding the specific portfolio or posting of the bureaucrat would be left to the city administration.
The submission was made before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath which concluded its arguments in a bunch of matters pertaining to the powers of the Lt Governor on the governance of Delhi.
The court will now hear arguments on behalf of the Centre from November 16 onwards.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for the city government, said, "In making the posting or the transfer of an IAS, all that the government was seeking to do was to allocate work consistent with the grade of the officer, in their own cadre.

"It is a well-settled proposition that neither a transfer nor a posting amounts to alteration in the condition of an employment of a public service," he said, adding that "within Delhi it will be my prerogative, where I (Delhi government) will post the bureaucrats."
The city government and the Centre have been at loggerheads over the powers of the LG and the Chief Minister regarding governance of Delhi.

A total of seven cases arising out of the spat between the LG and the Delhi government are being heard together by the bench headed by the Chief Justice.
The Delhi government on May 28 has approached the high court challenging the Centre's May 21 notification giving the LG an absolute powers in appointing bureaucrats in the city.

Along with the May 21 notification, Delhi government has also challenged the July 23, 2014 notification of the Centre which limited ACB's jurisdiction to Delhi government officials only.