HC seeks status of uniform transfer policy for court staffers
A high court bench has asked the registrar general of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to apprise about the status of the uniform transfer policy for court employees in two states and Chandigarh.
The HC bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh sought the details during the resumed hearing of a plea from an employee of a district court in Punjab, Harmeet Singh, who had approached the high court seeking directions to the HC administration to take a final decision on February 2017 recommendations by a panel, which looked into the grievances of employees working in district courts. The plea also sought inquiry to find out the discrepancies and misuse of “wrong postings and transfer orders” by the high court administration on the basis of alleged wrong feedback by the district and sessions judges. The plea also sought formulation of a transfer policy for employees under the rules and to avoid discrimination and harassment of employees. The February 2017 committee was presided over by now a Supreme Court judge, justice Surya Kant and had suggested long and short-term measures to address issues being faced by employees of lower courts after examining representations from them.
The panel had recommended that all the administrative judges from the high court while on annual inspections at district courts should interact with court employees to identify areas of their grievance. The district and sessions judges in two states and Chandigarh could be instructed not to keep an employee at the same post for a term exceeding three years, it said further, adding that the practice of transferring employees from one sessions’ division to another is required to be revisited to prevent its misuse. “There are instances where employees on their immediate appointment have succeeded in securing a transfer to another sessions division of their choice, whereas others have been waiting for such a favourable consideration for years, even when they have a genuine and bona fide cause. If need be, some of the transfer orders issued in the past be reviewed,” the panel had noted in its report recommending that in future a comprehensive transparent policy on employees’ transfers might be formulated.
During the hearing of the plea on December 2, the HC’S counsel had sought time to inform the court whether the minutes of February 2017 meeting of the panel have been approved by the full court or not.