The Hindu : National : Transfer at the instance of MLA, MP fine: apex court

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Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
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Transfer at the instance of MLA, MP fine: apex court

Special Correspondent

New Delhi: Transfer of a government servant either on the recommendation or on the complaint of an MLA/MP by itself will not vitiate the transfer order, the Supreme Court has held.

“After all, it is the duty of the representatives of the people in the legislature to express the grievances of the people and if there is any complaint against an official the State government is certainly within its jurisdiction to transfer such an employee. There can be no hard and fast rule that every transfer at the instance of an M.P. or MLA would be vitiated”, a Bench consisting of Justices C.K. Thakker and Markandey Katju said.

Writing the judgment, Mr. Justice Katju said “transfer is an exigency of service and is an administrative decision. This court has time and again expressed its disapproval of the courts below interfering with the order of transfer of public servant from one place to another. It is entirely for the employer to decide when, where and at what point of time a public servant is transferred from his present posting.”

The Bench said “ordinarily the Courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with the order of transfer.

It is settled law that a transfer which is an incident of service is not to be interfered with by the Courts unless it is shown to be clearly arbitrary or vitiated by mala fides or infraction of any professed norm or principle governing the transfer or that the authorities who issued the orders, were not competent to pass the orders.”

In the instant case, the appellant Mohd. Masood Ahmad, Executive Officer, Nagar Palika Parishad, Muzaffarnagar alleged that he was transferred to Mawana in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh at the instance of an MLA. The Allahabad High Court dismissed his writ petition.

Rejecting his appeal, the Bench said: “In our opinion, even if the allegation of the appellant is correct that he was transferred on the recommendation of an MLA that by itself would not vitiate the transfer order…”

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