'Indianmandarins' tries to dig deeper into the recent issue which has put the Delhi Govt, Centre and Lt Governor at logger-heads. Delhi High Court's direction to respect people's mandate and IAS Association's executive committee's (meeting held on Monday) urge for steps to insulate the civil services from political cross-fires give it more relevance to explore as 'whose Delhi is it anyway'. (By Rakesh Ranjan, Editor-in-chief, Indianmandarins.com; your feedback: [email protected]) Recent developments in the National Capital Territory of Delhi The recent events in the government of NCT of Delhi over the innocuous issue of assigning the charge of Chief Secretary for a period of ten days have not only led to demoralization of civil services but also exposed serious fault lines that have developed in the management of civil services in a cadre known for efficient cadre management. While Ministry of Home affairs welcome notification dated 21st May 2015 clarifies that the government of NCT of Delhi has no executive power in respect of matters connected with "Services", it seems implementation of Transaction of Business Rules earlier was a function of the comfort level between the Ministry and Chief Ministers. During the long tenure of the previous Chief Minister, posting and transfers of senior officers of IAS and DANICS were exclusively dealt by the previous Chief Minister. The Chief Secretaries had come to be accepted as Chief Minister's "choices", ignoring y merit and seniority. The real issue is whether these Chief Minister's pets further the cause of good governance. Unlike States, in Union Territories Chief Ministers have no ready access to the career and vigilance records of officers. In an outlying territory, an officer charge-sheeted and arrested by CBI was allowed to look after the charge of Chief Secretary for more than two years. In the recent appointment of acting Chief Secretary in Delhi, one wonders why the golden rule of giving charge to the next senior most officer available was not followed, ignoring lack of willingness of the officer concerned. More importantly, for the appointment of regular Chief Secretary, why the officers of 1980 and 1981 batches, already empanelled as Secretary to Govt. of India were sidelined in favour of an officer of 1983 batch empanelled as Additional Secretary during review. It would be appropriate if Ministry of Home Affairs empanel AGMUT cadre officers for various posts of Chief Secretaries and appoints, in consultation with the respective Lieutenant Governor and the Chief Minister, Chief Secretaries from officers in the panel only. The administrative set-up for Delhi in recent times has been an exercise in balancing considerations of the adequate control of the federal government on the national capital for discharging its national and international responsibilities, and the democratic decentralization in governance. Administrative set-up of Delhi since Independence After Independence in 1947, Delhi continued to be administered directly by the Government of India as a Chief Commissioner's province, as provided under the Government of India Act, 1935. Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramaya Committee, that was constituted to report on the constitutional changes required in the governmental set up of Chief Commissioner's provinces, recommended that the Chief Commissioner's province of Delhi might be provided with a responsible government, subject to certain limitations. The Drafting Committee of the Constitution did not agree with the recommendation and provided for administration of Delhi, included a