Punjab and Haryana High Court: While adjudicating a petition for quashing of a transfer order, Jaishree Thakur, J., dismissed the same being devoid of any merit.
The instant petition of certiorari has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India whereby the petitioner has pleaded for quashing of the transfer order dated 14 08-2020 vide which the petitioner has been transferred from Government Senior Secondary School, Model Town Karnal to Government Senior Secondary School, Teekri.
The factual background is such that the petitioner is a clerk at Government High School Model Town Karnal, whereas his wife teaches at Government Primary School. He has a daughter who happens to be mentally challenged resulting in occasional fits of violence. She needs attention and assistance at all times. The petitioner is getting his daughter treated at a hospital in Karnal and hence, the transfer will only make his situation worse as his family would give to go through a lot of hardships. As per government policy under which, the case of the employees who have children suffering from medical ailments/permanent disability has to be considered, he has filed several option sot be transferred to a nearer place but to no avail.
Counsel for the petitioner, Parminder Singh submits that the petitioner should be posted within the town of Karnal on sympathetic grounds given that he has a mentally challenged daughter to take care of.
It is submitted by S.S. Pannu, respondent’s counsel that the case of the petitioner has been considered on sympathetic grounds while transferring him to Teekri. The place where the petitioner has been posted is hardly 7-8 kms from where he was posted earlier. It is also stated that the petitioner has worked at the same place for 6 years.
Upon careful perusal of the facts, circumstances and arguments the Court found no ground for interference in this instant petition and observed that,
“It is well settled that transfer is an incidence of service and would be open to interference by the court only if the petitioner could establish that the transfer order is mala fide in nature.”
The Court also remarked that an employee does not develop a vested right to continue on a particular post as per his/her choice. At best an employee can ask for consideration regarding his posting in order to mitigate the hardship he might have to face on account of his/her transfer. In the present case, the petitioner’s request has been duly considered on sympathetic grounds and the place of posting is at a distance of only 7 to 8 kms from where the petitioner was posted. The petitioner has not alleged any mala fides against ay senior official of the respondent department or against the transferring authority.
In view of the above, the petition has been dismissed being devoid of any merit.[Mukesh Kumar v. State of Haryana, 2020 SCC OnLine P&H 1837, decided on 05-10-2020]
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