Administrative departments have strictly been asked to desist from issuing transfer and posting orders of officers from J&K to Ladakh while making it clear that “only Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has the authority to order such inter-UT transfers and postings.”
The directions were issued after it came to fore that some administrative departments order transfer and posting of officers from J&K Union Territory to Ladakh UT without approval from the competent authority.
To streamline the Inter-UT transfer and posting policy, the General Administration Department (GAD) issued a circular stating that “some administrative departments are issuing transfer and posting orders in respect of officers presently working in Jammu and Kashmir to the Union Territory of Ladakh and vice-versa without seeking approval of the competent authority.”
Referring to the Jammu and Kashmir Re-organization Act, 2019, it has been ordered that the “officers who are provisionally continuing to serve in connection with the affairs of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh can only be transferred and posted from one Union Territory to the other Union Territory by the Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The GAD has made it clear that “All such orders without the approval of the competent authority are not legally tenable. This will also lead to administrative complicacies when the final allocation of Union Territory is made to the officer as per the options received in terms of the said Act.”
Accordingly, all the Administrative departments have been advised to send such proposals to the GAD for seeking approval of the competent authority in terms of the said Act to ensure observance of due process and consolidation.