The central legal point established is that the deployment and repatriation of personnel at foreign missions are purely administrative matters and cannot be dictated by the Court. Service personnel have no vested right to be posted or deployed at any specific location.

JUDGMENT

Amit Bansal, J. - Cm No.23739/2021(for exemption)

1. Allowed, subject to just exceptions and as per extant Rules.

2. The application is disposed of.

W.P.(C) 7589/2021 & CM No.23738/2021(for stay)

3. The present petition has been filed by 30 petitioners belonging to the respondent, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), who were posted at Consulate General of India (CGI), Kandahar, Afghanistan between AugustSeptember, 2020 and February, 2021. The tenure of posting of the petitioners was to be for a term of two years. On account of disturbance and unrest in Afghanistan, it was decided by the Government of India to temporarily stop its operation in CGI, Kandahar and to send officials posted therein, including the petitioners, back to India, as a precautionary measure. The petitioners made a representation against the aforesaid act of deinduction of the petitioners from Kandahar and upon such representation, the Third Secretary (Security), CGI, Kandahar, vide e-mail dated 5th July, 2021 to the respondent ITBP, requested that in place of the petitioners, personnel with longer tenure be sent back to India. On 10th July, 2021, the petitioners were repatriated to India and were quarantined at ITBP Camp, Chhawla, New Delhi. On 14th July, 2021, the petitioners sent a representation to the respondent requesting that the petitioners be given preference for transfer back to Embassy of India, Kabul.

4. The present petition has been filed seeking the following directions:

(i) to redeploy the petitioners at the Indian Mission, Afghanistan in place of the officials who have served maximum period of service; (ii) not to remove the petitioners from the panel of personnel to be deployed at Afghanistan;

(iii) to prepare a list of personnel including the petitioners who have served minimum period of service in Afghanistan in ascending order for the purposes of re-deployment, in place of the officials who have served maximum period of service, as and when vacancies arise; (iv) not to transfer the petitioners to a new place of posting; and, (v) not to suspend the diplomatic passports as well as visas issued to the petitioners.

5. It has been contended by the counsel for the petitioners that (i) the petitioners had been transferred back prematurely, as their tenure of two years had not been completed; (ii) in terms of Communication dated 11th June, 2021 of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a copy of which has been emailed by the counsel for the petitioners to the Court Master, whenever the strength of personnel deployed at Afghanistan is required to be curtailed by the Government of India/MEA due to various operational/administrative reasons, the personnel having served maximum period of tenure in Afghanistan will be de-inducted and to maintain the prescribed strength, in all deployment locations, the remaining strength would be reshuffled against the deployment locations as per the operational requirements; (iii) in the past, as per the Officer Order dated 13th June, 2021 of the Embassy of India, Kabul, 12 officials from the Embassy of India at Kabul have been transferred to CGI, Kandahar as replacement of 12 officials who were repatriated to India, in terms of aforesaid Communication dated 11th June, 2021; (iv) in terms of Communication dated 11th June, 2021, the respondent ITBP should have repatriated the personnel who had completed maximum tenure in Afghanistan; (v) the petitioners have been de-inducted from their posting at Afghanistan without taking into consideration their term of posting; and (vi) the petitioners apprehend that they will be redeployed at other locations of the respondent ITBP and, therefore, miss out on the opportunity of being re-inducted for being deployed at Afghanistan.

6. The counsel appearing on advance notice on behalf of the respondent, ITBP opposes the petition. He places reliance on a Policy document dated 11th February, 2021, of the respondent ITBP in respect of 'Selection of ITBP Troops (GO's and NGO's) for Sec