The commission will be staying at its offices in Edinburgh

The Scottish Executive reversed its decision to move the body from Edinburgh because it has no legal power to tell the commission what to do.

The lease on the organisation's office ends next spring and ministers felt the move would fit in with their policy of sharing government jobs in Scotland.

The news was met with controversy when first announced in March.

The commission warned that its service would be "seriously jeopardised" by a significant loss of expertise from its staff of 76, some of whom would not want to make the move.

Holyrood inquiry

When Scottish Natural Heritage raised similar complaints about its relocation, ministers overruled the agency.

But because the executive has no power to direct the commission in the same way, the Deputy Health Minister Rhona Brankin has backed down.

However, the executive says she may revisit the issue in two years time.

Ministers didn't appear to know that this is an independent body over which they don't have power Glenn Campbell BBC Scotland political correspondent

The relocation policy requires that in the case of new bodies being set up, there will be a presumption that they should be located away from Edinburgh.

In the case of existing bodies, a rethink on location is required when leases expire.

The relocation of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness, which caused anger among some staff, led to a Holyrood inquiry into the policy.

The commission said it had recently emerged that the organisation held "a uniquely independent position" because of mental health law in Scotland.

A spokesman said: "This has led the Scottish Executive to invite the commission to make the decision on whether to relocate at this time.

"At a recent meeting, commissioners unanimously endorsed our consistently held position that the best interests of service users would not be served by relocation from Edinburgh at a time of great change in mental health and learning disability services.

"Consequently the commission will be remaining in Edinburgh for the foreseeable future."

'Dug in heels'

BBC Scotland political correspondent Glenn Campbell said it seemed there had been a "blunder somewhere".

He added: "The executive has a well-established policy of relocating government jobs across Scotland - trying to share out the benefits of there being a Scottish Parliament.

"It is a widely supported policy but in the last couple of years it has become a bit more aggressive.

"Ministers have in the case of SNH, against that organisation's judgement, issued a direction to move its headquarters from Edinburgh up to Inverness.

"But in the case of the mental welfare commission, ministers didn't appear to know that this is an independent body over which they don't have that kind of power - when it dug in its heels and said no, ministers had to back off."

However an executive spokeswoman insisted that Ms Brankin was still committed to the relocation policy and the "wider benefits" it provided.

She said: "It is now three months since ministers announced the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) should move and although the MWC, with Scottish Executive support, has been working towards the move we have not made as much progress as we wanted to.

"There are some key issues, such as staff retention, which we have been unable to resolve and time is running out if the move is to be successfully completed by March 2006.

"Given the unique nature of the MWC and its relationship with Scottish ministers, the decision is for the MWC to make.