- (1.) This writ petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by the petitioner, who is employed as a clerk by the respondent no. 1/Guru Harkrishan Public School (in short 'GHPS'), Fateh Nagar, Delhi. Petitioner is challenging the transfer order dated 28.4.2014 passed by the respondent no. 2/Guru Harkrishan Public School (New Delhi) Society (hereinafter 'Society') and the relieving order dated 2.5.2014 passed by the respondent no. 1/School whereby petitioner's services have been transferred from the respondent no.1/School/GHPS at Fateh Nagar, Delhi to GHPS at Tilak Nagar, Delhi.
(2.) So far as the aspect that schools are separate legal entities and employee of one school cannot be transferred to another school is concerned, this aspect has been considered and dealt with by this Court in the judgment in the case of Satbir Singh and Anr. Vs. Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee & Anr. in W.P.(C) No.8060/2007 decided on 1.5.2013, and in which judgment it is held that each school has a separate legal entity and employee of one school cannot be transferred to another school, however, the ratio of the judgment in the case of Satbir Singh & Anr. was by noting the specific position that no common seniority list was maintained by different schools and hence an employee of one school cannot be transferred to another school because employee by the transfer can be prejudiced because as a result of the transfer such employee may be placed at a lower position in seniority in the transferred school than the position in which the person was working in the school from where the employee was transferred.
(3.) The issue with respect to transfer of an employee from one school to another which was the subject matter of the decision in the Satbir Singh & Anr. , came up before the Division Bench of this Court in LPA No. 508/2013 in the case of Hamdard Education Society & Anr. Vs. Abdul Rehman & Anr. decided on 16.5.2014 and the ratio of the judgment in the case of Satbir Singh & Anr. has been approved by the Division Bench of this Court stating that an employee of one school cannot be transferred to another school, and once again noting that this is so when no common seniority list of different schools is maintained. The relevant observations of the Division Bench are contained in para 24 of the judgment and this para reads as under: "24. We had asked learned counsel for the society and the school that if employees are transferrable from one school to another what happens to their seniority and entitled to be considered for promotion? We had posed the question in view of the fact that in schools the teachign cadre comprises Primary/Assistant Teacher Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) Post Graduate Teacher (PGT). 20% posts of PGT are in the selection scale. Promotion is from the lower rung in the teaching cadre to the higher. If a society has established say for example three schools and it treats the employees as transferrable from one to the other it would mean a combined seniority list would have to be maintained. Concededly the schools established by the society are not doing so. If this be so, if a teacher is transferred from one school to another, the seniority list of teachers drawn up in a school would be rendered meaningless. This would be an additional reason to hold that employees of one recognized school cannot be transferred to another recognized school merely because the two schools have been established by the same parent society. ";