Madhya Pradesh High Court: A Division Bench of Sheel Nagu and Vivek Agarwal, JJ. contemplated instant intra Court appeal filed under Section 2(1) of Madhya Pradesh High Court Act, 2005. The order passed by the Single Judge was challenged where the petition was dismissed on merits, the petitioner sought relief against his transfer order from one district to another.
D.P. Singh, counsel for the petitioner submitted that the child of the petitioner was in Class 11th and the transfer will affect the studies of the child and in between the mid-session there was very less possibility to getting admission in a new school. Hence the academic of the child was in jeopardy. Hence, the transfer must be stayed.
The Court observed that, transfer on the ground of the son/daughter of transferred employee was in Class-11th and 12th was not a justifiable cause however, it was stated that as our Constitution via Article 38, reflected that ‘State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life.’
Hence, the Court decided that “for a public servant to strive towards excellence, it was of utmost importance that fair and equitable opportunities were made available by the State. One of the means to achieve the goal to provide equitable opportunities by the State was to make available healthy and stress-free working environment for a public servant. It further remarked that such stress-free environment was only possible when the employer, made transfers took into account not only the administrative exigencies/public interest but also the genuine personal problems of the public servant liable to be transferred. A balance has to be struck by the employer which was though difficult but not impossible to achieve. Every government in its capacity as an employer owes it to its employees. If this balance between the administrative exigency and personal inconvenience is kept in mind before every event of transfer, the cause of heart-burning amongst public servants under transfer would reduce to the minimum thereby creating a healthy and congenial atmosphere between the employer and employees which in turn contributes greatly to the overall development of the particular institution and as well as the nation.”
The Court further observed that the public servants, whose children were pursuing their career in the higher secondary stage of education, were not to be disturbed barring an emergent situation where a transfer cannot be avoided or deferred. It was observed that such observation cannot be turned into a direction because of the inherent limitations of the power of judicial review.
Hence the order of transfer of the petitioner was quashed. Further Additional Advocate General and Chief Secretary of Government of M.P were served a copy of the particular order.[Ripudaman Singh Yadav v. State of M.P, 2019 SCC OnLine MP 1658, decided on 16-07-2019]
Good decision