The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of upholding the Cadre Rules, 1966, which mandate that a cadre post shall be filled by a cadre officer, and the limited scope of court interference in transfer matters. The judgment emphasizes the protection of All India Cadre Officers and the significance of adhering to statutory rules in the transfer process.

JUDGMENT

P.S.Dinesh Kumar, J. - This writ petition is presented by the applicant before the Central Administrative Tribunal (for short the CAT ) challenging the order dated 09.07.2020 in O.A.No.170/00243 of 2020 dismissing his application.

2. Heard Shri Dhananjay Joshi, learned advocate for petitioner, Shri G.K.Hiregoudar, learned Government Advocate for respondents 1 and 2 and Shri Shrikant T.Patil, for respondent No.4.

3. Brief facts of the case are, petitioner, initially a State Forest Service Officer (for short the SFS Officer ) was encadred into Indian Forest Service in 2008. He was transferred as Deputy Conservator of Forest (Territorial ), (Belagavi ) on 04.01.2018.

4. By notification dated 30.04.2020, 4th respondent-Shri Ashok R. Patil, an SFS Officer was transferred from Vi jayapura to petitioner s post and petitioner has been transferred to 4th respondent s post in Vi jayapura.

5. Petitioner challenged his transfer order before the CAT contending inter alia, that the transfer was in violation ofIndian Forest Services (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1966, and Indian Forest Service (Cadre) Rules, 1966 (for short Cadre Rules, 1966). The Tribunal has dismissed petitioner s application by the impugned order. Hence, this writ petition.

6. Shri Dhananjay Joshi, for the petitioner submitted that petitioner s service conditions are governed by Cadre Rules, 1966. As per Rule 8, every cadre post shall be filled by a cadre officer. Rule 9 provides for temporary appointment of noncadre officers to the cadre posts. The 4th respondent is an SFS officer. Therefore, he could not have been posted to the post held by petitioner in Belagavi, which is admittedly a cadre post.

7. Shri Hiregoudar, learned Government Advocate for the State argued supporting the transfer order. He submitted that transfer is an incident of service. No officer has any vested right over a particular post. Fourth respondent s name is found in the select list of the year 2017. Fourth respondent was holding a cadre post in Vi jayapura and therefore, the transfer order does not call for any interference.

8. Shri Shrikant T.Patil, learned counsel for respondent No. 4 also argued in support of the impugned order. He submitted that petitioner was also an SFS Officer. Fourth respondent s name has been included in the list of eligible officers for promotion to Indian Forest Service cadre for the select year 2017.

9. We have carefully considered rival contentions and perused the records.

10. Undisputed facts of this case are, petitioner is a cadre officer working as Deputy Conservator of Forest, Belagavi. Fourth respondent is an SFS Officer. Rules 8 and 9 of the Cadre Rules, 1966 read as under:

"8. Cadre and ex-cadre posts to be filled by cadre officers- (1) Save as otherwise provided in these rules, every cadre post shall be filled by a cadre officer.

8(2) A cadre officer shall not hold an ex-cadre post in excess of the number specified for the concerned State under item 5 of the Schedule to the Indian Forest Service (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1966.

8(3) The State Government may, with the prior approval of the Central Government, appoint a cadre officer to hold an ex-cadre post in excess of the number specified for the concerned State in item 5 of the Schedule to the Indian Forest Service (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Regulations, 1966 and for so long as the approval of the Central Government remains in force, the said ex-cadre post shall be deemed to be an addition to the number specified in item 3 of the said Schedule."

9. Temporary appointment of non-Cadre officers to cadre posts.- 9 (1) A cadre post in a State shall not be filled by a person who is not a cadre officer except in the following cases; namely:-

(a) if there is no suitable cadre officer available for filling the vacancy;

Provided that when a suitable cadre officer becomes available, the person who is not a cadre officer shall be replaced by the cadre officer:

Provided further that