Himachal Pradesh High Court: In the present petition, the petitioner stated that she was transferred from Dhalog, Chamba, to Devikothi, Chamba, which was a hard area and she had already served in a sub-cadre area and prayed for a posting near Nagali where her husband was working. A Single Judge Bench of Sandeep Sharma, J., directed the State to ensure that transfers were made strictly in accordance with the transfer policy of the Government of Himachal Pradesh and emphasised that every government employee should be posted to a difficult area once during their service and that political influence should not be allowed in the matter.
The petitioner worked as a Trained Graduate Teacher (Medical) at Government High School, Dhalog. On 20-6-2025, she was transferred to Government Senior Secondary School, Devikothi, a hard area. Aggrieved by the order, she filed a writ petition wherein she contended that she had already served in a sub-cadre area from 2006 to 2012. She further submitted that her husband was a Lecturer at Government Senior Secondary School, Nagali and thus, on the said ground, she prayed for a posting near Nagali.
The Court observed that the petitioner had completed her normal tenure at the present place of posting and that the transfer order was justified. However, the Court noted that as per the transfer policy of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, every government employee had to be sent to a sub-cadre, hard or tribal area during their life career. However, many employees who had good political relations were hardly posted in such areas and the employees, who did not have any say in the corridors of Government, were repeatedly sent to hard or tribal areas.
The Court opined that since the transfer policy provided that every government employee be sent to sub cadre, hard or tribal area once in their service career, endeavour should be made by the Government to identify the employees, who have never served in such areas, so that they were sent there, and the employees who had already completed their normal tenure of posting in those areas were relieved from such stations, ensuring that every employee got a chance to serve in hard or tribal areas and employees serving there were not made to serve for long periods.
The Court, without interfering with the impugned order, disposed of the petition and awarded the petitioner the liberty to make a representation to the competent authority, within a period of two days, for her transfer to a convenient station considering her earlier service in a sub-cadre area and her husband’s posting. The Court directed that the representation must be decided within ten days, and until then, the petitioner should not be compelled to join the new station. The Court further directed that the judgment should be sent to the Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh to issue necessary guidelines to all departments for ensuring that the transfer policy was implemented uniformly and unnecessary unrest was prevented amongst employees and the transfer policy did not remain merely on paper.
[Bharti Ratore v. State of H.P., 2025 SCC OnLine HP 2397, decided on 26-6-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: Tanuj Thakur, Advocate.
For the Respondents: Anup Rattan, Advocate General with Rajan Kahol and B.C. Verma, Additional Advocate Generals and Ravi Chauhan, Deputy Advocate General.
