AAP again knocks at Supreme Court door over officers

Arvind Kejriwal

Amid no let-up in the power tussle between the Delhi government and Lt Governor Anil Baijal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to take up an AAP plea on the contentious issue of the management of city's officers, their transfers and posting.

Rahul Mehra, senior standing counsel for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, tweeted that the plea had been filed before the court of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, seeking an early disposal of all appeals filed by the Delhi government.

Mehra said the bench headed by the Chief Justice has indicated that "the matters shall be listed before the appropriate bench sometime next week".

The Delhi government approached the top court as there was "still confusion over who has powers in transfers and postings of officials", Mehra said.

An apex court Constitution Bench on July 4 ruled that the Lt Governor was bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers and that he exercised no independent powers as the representative of the central government.

On July 5, the Arvind Kejriwal government sent Baijal files recommending transfer and posting of officials. But the Lt Governor stonewalled it, saying the issue involving "Services" was yet to be decided.

Baijal said the Union Home Ministry had advised him to keep exercising powers over "Services" because the May 21, 2015 notification remained valid until a regular bench of the apex court decided on it.

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