Employee can’t dictate terms for posting: HC

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court said transfer is an incident of service and no government servant has a vested right to remain posted at a place of his choice nor can an employee dictate terms with regard to his place of posting.

“The said power is vested in the employer, who is to exercise the said powers as per administrative exigencies keeping in view public interest unless it involves any adverse impact on the career or further prospects,” the bench of justice AG Masih and justice Ashok Kumar Verma said.

The plea was from Ravi Prakash Gupta, an IAS officer of Haryana cadre, who is 100% visually impaired, and was initially allocated to Chhattisgarh cadre.

However, under policy decision for transfer of disabled persons, he was transferred to Haryana cadre in 2015.

He had challenged his transfer as Fatehabad deputy commissioner (DC) to director general Swarna Jayanti Haryana Institute of Fiscal Management on May 18, 2020, amid the Covid-19 outbreak. He had argued that the transfer was in violation of the court order that an officer posted to a cadre post should not be transferred prior to two years of the said date of posting.

It was also alleged that the order was discriminatory as he has been transferred merely after six-and-a-half-months of posting as DC that too without recording any reason for the same. It was argued that due to this, he would not be able to get sufficient field experience, which would be detrimental to his growth as an officer.

The government had argued that his transfer was made keeping in view the Covid-19 situation to address administrative exigencies and for ensuring smooth functioning of the state administrations as “DCs and DMs have to play a pivotal role and as such, some of them were required to be transferred from their districts.”

It came to light that he had already completed three years of field experience.

The court, while dismissing the plea, observed that the exercise of power of transfer in the present case was in accordance with law. The court was satisfied with the explanation given and further observed that court order with regard to transfers have not been violated.

THE PLEA WAS FROM A HARYANA CADRE IAS OFFICER WHO IS VISUALLY IMPAIRED AND WAS ALLOCATED TO CHHATTISGARH CADRE INITIALLY