S.N.SRIVASTAVA, J. - (1.) THIS petition has been preferred against the impugned order of transfer dated 13 -12 -2002 whereby the petitioner has been transferred from Etawah to Allahabad.
(2.) THE petitioner has assailed the transfer order on the ground that it has been necessitated at the instance of local M.L.A. namely, Sri Sobaran Singh Yadav and that it has not been passed in bona fide exercise of power by the authority concerned and in connection with the proposition, the learned counsel has adverted attention of the Court to Annexure 1 containing letter of the aforestated M.L.A. dated 3 -12 -2002. In opposition, the learned counsel for the respondents has emphatically denied any pressure having been exerted by any political person and canvassed that the letter in question has been procured by the petitioner in league with the Local M.L.A. with the avowed object of rendering the impugned order vitiated which, proceeds the submission, has been passed in bona fide exercise of powers by the authority concerned. I have given my anxious considerations to the submissions made across the bar and perused the materials on record.
(3.) IT transpires from the record that the petitioner holds a transferable post and it has not been disputed that he having remained posted at Aligarh for as long as seven years was transferred to Etawah where also he has already completed five years. In view of the fact that the petitioner has assailed the impugned order on the ground that it was necessitated at the instance of Local M.L.A. and also in view of the fact that the grounds urged by the learned counsel have been emphatically denied by the learned counsel for the respondents, I feel called to delve a little deeper into the merits of the respective contentions. In this connection, there is a clear averments in para 4 of the counter -affidavit that the letter relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner is a fabricated one and has been procured with specific purpose to a design. With a view to hammering home his point, the learned counsel for the respondents has also drawn attention of the Court to the fact that the letter seemingly appears to have been addressed to the concerned Minister but there is nothing on record to show whether the said letter has been acted upon by the concerned Minister or that any consequent letter by the Minister weighed heavily on the concerned authority to pass the impugned order. It also does not appear that the letter of the Local M.L.A. found any respectable place in the record of the case. Mere letter by Local M.L.A. in my considered view, is not the clinching ground to form opinion that the transfer was necessitated by political pressure. In the circumstances, there is substance in the submission that the order of transfer was made on the ground that the petitioner has completed a span of five years at the station and it has been made in bona fide exercise of power having due regard to exigencies of administration and untrammeled by any outside influence.;