SUMIT DAGAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who has been working in the respondent no.2/Airport Authority of India since 18/7/2011, having joined as a Junior Executive (Air Traffic Control) (hereinafter referred to as 'ATC') has approached this Court seeking the following reliefs:-

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that though after joining the services of respondent no.2 as a Junior Executive (ATC) on 18/7/2011 where he continued to remain posted at Delhi, he has been, vide the impugned order dtd. 29/7/2022, transferred to Mangalore. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that all the transfers in the respondent no.2 organisation are required to be carried out in terms of the transfer policy dtd. 27/2/2018 issued by the respondent no.2 itself. She contends that while transferring the petitioner to Mangalore, the respondents have acted in violation of para 3(i), 3(ii), 3(v), 4.1 and 4.8 of the transfer policy which clearly mandates that transfers shall normally be avoided and, in any event, inter-regional transfers would be ordered only as per the seniority based on the length of stay of the officer in a station/region. She submits that, in the present case, while 406 officers were promoted from the post of Assistant Manager to the Manager vide the impugned order, most of them, unlike the petitioner, have been retained at the stations/regions where they were working as Assistant Managers, for which purpose he draws my attention to para nos.3 and 5 of the additional affidavit dtd. 27/10/2022 wherein the names of officers senior to the petitioner, who have been retained at their existing place of posting, have been mentioned.

(3.) She next contends that even otherwise the respondents having failed to seek any option from the petitioner as mandated in terms of para 3(i) of the transfer policy, the impugned order is liable to be set aside on this ground alone. She further submits that while issuing the impugned orders, the respondents have even failed to follow the timelines specified in para 3 (i) of the transfer policy which envisages that all transfer orders should be issued by end of March in every year. In the present case, the transfer order having been issued on 29/7/2022 is clearly violative of para 3 (i) of the policy and is, therefore, liable to be set aside. Merely because the petitioner, in order to avoid any adverse orders, joined his new posting at Mangalore in the short time granted vide the impugned order, would not imply that he is not aggrieved by the impugned order or that the petition has become infructuous on account of his having joined duty at Mangalore, as contended by the respondent. She, therefore, prays that the impugned order, insofar as it relates to the petitioner's transfer to Mangalore, be set aside.