Srinagar, Apr 8: Holding that transfer of a State employee was an important tool with the Government to make administration accountable, transparent and corruption free, the High Court today dismissed a writ petition seeking quashment of a transfer order.
 Justice Hasnain Massodi of High Court in a case titled Abdul Hamid Rather Vs State and Ors held: “The Government cannot be given an agenda of providing an efficient, clean and responsive administration (while its) hands (are) tied at its back preventing it from transferring an employee from one place to another.”
 “The power of transfer, however, is to be exercised honestly, objectively and in a bonafide manner, and not as a camouflage to punish or downgrade an employee,” the Court held.
 Holding that transfer is an exigency of service, it said: “The scope of judicial review of transfer under Article 226 is limited to malafide, infraction of service rules and incompetence of authority making the transfer.”
 Maintaining that in order to run administration efficiently and smoothly, the Government was to have some discretion in effecting transfers, the Court said an employee had no choice in the matter of transfer and place of posting and could not insist on posting at a particular place for a certain period.
 Court said the Government in order to rationalize and streamline transfers, formulates a transfer policy subject to review from time to time, having regard to new challenges and imperatives of an efficient administration.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 8 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 8 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 9 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST