- (1.) HEARD Sri Sujit Narayan Prasad, learned counsel for the petitioner and J.C. to G.P. -II for the respondent State.
(2.) PETITIONER in this writ application has prayed for an order for quashing the office order No. 28 dated 27.06.2007 (Annexure -3) issued under the signature of the Respondent No. 3 whereby the petitioner has been transferred from the Soil Conservation Office, Daltonganj to the office of Soil Conservation, Garhwa. A further prayer has been made for directing the respondents to permit the petitioner to discharge his duties in the office of Soil Conservation, Daltonganj on the ground that the criminal case instituted against the petitioner is presently pending in the district of Garhwa. Facts of the petitioner case in brief is as follows : - The petitioner was employed as a Clerk in the office of Soil Conservation, Daltonganj and during his posting there, a criminal case was instituted against him for alleged misappropriation of Government money and the same is pending in the Civil Court in the district of Garhwa. On the same ground, the petitioner was placed under suspension in contemplation of a departmental proceeding. However, pursuant to an order passed by this Court in an earlier writ application filed by the petitioner, his suspension was revoked whereafter he was posted as Clerk in the office of Soil Conservation Research and Training Centre, Demo Tar, Hazaribagh. On the ground that the criminal case instituted against him is pending in the Civil court at Garhwa and it was highly inconvenient for him to appear in the case in Garhwa, he filed a representation before the Respondent No. 3 on 07.03.2005 praying for his transfer. His representation was duly considered by the Establishment Committee and upon the recommendation of the Establishment Committee, the petitioner's prayer for his transfer was allowed and he was transferred to the office of Soil Conservation, Daltonganj vide order dated 29.06.2005. While the petitioner was discharging his duties in his transferred post at Daltonganj, the impugned order was issued under the signature of Respondent No. 3 whereby he was transferred to Sahebganj in the Soil Conservation Department, purportedly on administrative grounds.
(3.) THE petitioner being aggrieved by the impugned order, has stated that the impugned order is highly arbitrary and illegal and has been passed only to accommodate one Basant Kumar Singh who is also posted in the office of Soil Conservation, Daltonganj. Adverting to Annexure -4 to the writ application, learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that by the order passed in W.P.(C) No. 3535 of 2006, in the case of Anil Kumar Bhagat, the respondent had earlier issued a notification for the transfer of Basant Kumar Singh from Daltonganj to Chatra but he was not relieved from office. Later, by partly amending the earlier transfer order by a subsequent order dated 15.12.2006, the said Basant Kumar Singh was allowed to be reposted in the office of Soil Conservation in the district of Lohardaga. Despite such amended order of transfer, the said Basant Kumar Singh did not hand over his charge of office at Daltonganj nor did he join his posting at Lohardaga. It was on the presumption that the petitioner had submitted complaints against the non -handing over of charge by Basant Kumar Singh, that the impugned notification of the petitioner's transfer has been issued and the petitioner has been released from his post at Daltonganj.;