HC asks Karnataka to relook at 2013 transfer guidelines

The High Court of Karnataka has said that it is time for the state government to have relook at the 2013 transfer guidelines.

A division bench headed by Justice G Narendar said this while observing that transfer applications occupy a major chunk of the litigations before the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KSAT).

The bench opined that the guidelines were framed only to prevent the arbitrary exercise of power or by turning transfers into a tool of harassment or to mitigate any personal hardship that may be suffered by the parties.

“..It is time for the respondent-state to look into the concept of communicable distance and also the distinction between areas, which are well-equipped with all the basic necessities like hospitals, schools, colleges, residential accommodation etc and remote and inaccessible areas involving hilly terrain, towns and villages surrounded by forest etc or towns and villages in highly undeveloped or under-developed parts of the state,” the bench said.

The bench further said, “We are of the opinion that such positive measures can prove fruitful in saving the precious judicial time of both the tribunal and this court. The Principal Secretary, DPAR, shall forward his recommendations to the government within eight weeks with a copy to this court.”

The case

The petitioner, who was working as a Panchayat Development Officer (PDO), was transferred to Beerihundi Gram Panchayat, Mysuru taluk. The incumbent PDO at Beerihundi GP challenged this before the KAT contending that it was a premature transfer.

The Tribunal accepted the case both on the ground of premature transfer and also that it had no concurrence of the chief minister, in terms of the 2013 transfer guidelines.

Challenging the KAT order, the petitioner argued that the transfer order was preceded by prior approval of the chief minister.

The bench summoned the records and found that the chief minister indeed had given his prior approval on September 4, 2021, while the order of transfer was issued on April 12, 2022, during the regular transfer session.

“In the instant case, it appears that the Tribunal in its desire to dispose of the case has neither summoned nor waited for production of the records by the respondent-state. What is even more disconcerting to the court is the fact that both the posts are within the same taluk (Mysuru taluk) abutting Mysuru City,” the bench said while upholding the transfer order.