Terming the transfers by the Home Ministry as "unilateral", Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had protested the transfer orders saying her government was not ready to relieve the officers unless their replacements come.
The Home Ministry's diktat came after the DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services) officers failed to relinquish their responsibilities in Delhi Government and join their new postings.
Sources said the officers were asked to explain their positions by the end of this month else they will have to face disciplinary action. They were also told strictly to join their new postings without further delay.
Dikshit has been taking a strong position on the issue saying there is a severe shortage of officials in Delhi government against the sanctioned strength and transfer of the huge number of officials will seriously affect governance. She had even asked Chief Secretary P K Tripathi not to release any of the 25 officials.
Tripathi had a meeting with Home Secretary R K Singh on Thursday in which he had requested the Singh to provide equal number of replacements to the city administration.
The Chief Minister was agitated as the Home Ministry had indicated to Delhi government that it has also started the process of transferring a number of top officials in Delhi government, including Dikshit's Principal Secretary M M Kutty, Industries Secretary Chetan Sanghi, Delhi Jal Board CEO Debashree Mukherjee and Commissioner of South Delhi Municipal Corporation Manish Gupta.
The DANICS association has sent a letter to Home Secretary R K Singh making a number of demands including putting in place some kind of mechanism for consultation with Delhi Government before taking decisions on transfers.
The Home Ministry had issued the transfer order on May 29 and asked the officials to join their new postings by first week of June.
When asked a senior DANICS official indicated that they may even consider going to the courts.
