- (1.) IN the instant petition, the petitioner has come up for quashing the order of the Commissioner, Rural Development, U. P. dated 31. 7. 2007 transferring him from Kanpur Nagartoazamgarh.
(2.) LEARNED Counsel for the petitioner contended that the petitioner's daughter and wife are suffering from serious ailment on account of which he has made several representations to the authorities to provide posting near Lucknow where necessary medical facilities are available. He submitted that since those representations, which are Annexures-6 and 7 to this writ petition, have not been disposed of, the order of transfer may be stayed. Considering the submissions and looking to the facts of the case, we are not inclined to interfere with the order of transfer for two reasons. Firstly, the same has been passed in public interest and secondly, no explanation has been furnished by the petitioner as to why he has not joined his transferred place though a period of four months have passed. It is well settled legal proposition that the order of transfer, made in public interest, cannot be interfered with by this Court unless the same is in violation of any statutory provision or the same has been affected due to mala fide reasons, which is not the case of the petitioner. Thus in the absence of any good reasons the order of transfer need not to be interfered with. Transfer has been held to be an ordinary incident of service and it does not alter any condition of service. In Public Services Tribunal Bar Association v. State of U. P. and another, AIR 2003 SC 1115 the Apex Court held : "transfer is an incident of service and is made in administrative exigencies. Normally it is not to be interfered with by the Courts. This Court consistently has been taken a view that orders of transfer should not be interfered with except in rare cases where the transfer has been made in a vindictive manner. " The above observation has been quoted and followed in Prasar Bharti and others v. Amarjeet Singh and others, AIR 2007 SC 1269. In State of Punjab and othersv. Joginder Singh Dhatt, AIR 1993 SC 2486, the Apex Court in para 3 of the judgment held as under: "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. Ordinarily the Courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with the order of transfer. "
(3.) VERY recently also in Prabir Banerjee v. Union of India and others, (Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 20706 of 2006) decided on 5. 10. 2007 the Apex Court has reiterated that transfer is an incident of service. Following the earlier law laid down in respect of transfer of employee from one place to another, recently the Apex Court in Mohd. Masood Ahmad v. State of U. P. and others, 2007 (8) SCC 150 has said that an order of transfer is a part of service conditions of an employee which should not be interfered by the Courts unless the Courts find that either the order is mala fide or is pertaining to some service rule or the authority issuing the order is not competent to pass the same. In the present case none of the above grounds exists and, therefore, there does not appear to be any reason warranting interference in the impugned order of transfer by this Court. However, since the petitioner has already made representation to the authorities concerned, it is provided that this order shall not preclude the authorities from considering the same and passing appropriate order in accordance with law. It is made clear that we have not expressed any opinion with respect to the prayer of the petitioner for giving posting somewhere in Lucknow and it is entirely for the competent authority to look into the matter and pass appropriate order on the representation of the petitioner in accordance with law and the existing policies in relation to the transfer. 4. With the aforesaid observations, this writ petition stands dismissed. .;