Delhi’s civil services board clears transfers; files sent for LG’s stamp

NEW DELHI: The Civil Services Board (CSB) has cleared the transfer of the Delhi government’s secretary of the services department, Ashish More, and the appointment of AK Singh as his replacement, officials said on Wednesday— finally setting in motion transfers that were announced by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last week but led to a row amid the tussle between the state and the Centre.

The files have been sent to lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena for approval, a Delhi government official said.

According to the official, the LG is bound to approve it, as the decision taking power on transfer and posting of officers now lies with the elected government after a Supreme Court ruling last week. More, an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the batch of 2005 who was appointed to the post in 2022, will be replaced by AK Singh, a 1995 batch IAS officer. The officer will be responsible for initiating the transfer and posting of officers in the Delhi government.

The decision was taken at meeting of the three-member CSB on Wednesday and was attended by additional chief secretary PK Gupta and More.

The LG office did not comment on the development.

The transfer and posting of IAS officers is done after the proposals are examined by CSB, which is headed by chief secretary and has two other members — chief of the services department and the senior most IAS officer of the Delhi government after the chief secretary.

This came after a Constitution bench of the top court on May 11 granted legislative and executive powers over the administration of services to the elected government in Delhi, except for public order, police, and land.

Hours after the judgment, CM Arvind Kejriwal, while announcing More’s removal, said the government will effect large scale transfer and posting of officers “who created obstacles int the work of the elected government in the last one and a half years”.

On the same day, services minister Saurabh Bharadwaj signed off on More’s removal — which soon snowballed into a controversy as More did not put up a file for his transfer, and later the minister alleged that he had gone “absconding”, “his phone was switched off”, and flagged his “unauthorised absence” from work, finally issuing a show-cause notice to him.

On Monday, More agreed to vacate his position from the Capital’s administrative set-up.