Transfers of employees under the Railway Protection Force Rules are valid if made by competent authority and justified by public interest, even during ongoing disciplinary proceedings.

ORDER :

Sameer Jain, J.

1. The present petition is filed with the following prayers:

“a) Order bearing no.36/2022 dated 13.10.2022 (Annexure – 4) transferring the petitioner from North Western Railway Zone posted at Kanakpura outpost, Jaipur Post, Jaipur Division to Southern Railway may kindly be quashed and set aside;

b) Any other order or direction in connection with or consequent to the impugned order dated 13.10.2022 (Annexure – 4) issued by respondents during pendency of this writ petition may also be quashed and set aside.”

2. The factual matrix of the instant case is as follows:

2.1. The petitioner was appointed on the post of Sub- Inspector in Railway Protection Force (RPF) in the year 2010 and is presently holding the said post as a substantive employee.

2.2. The petitioner vide order dated 24.11.2017 was transferred from Northern-Eastern Zone (Original Cadre) to Northern-Western Zone on account of his personal reasons. Due to said inter-zonal transfer the petitioner had to compromise with his seniority.

2.3. On 12.01.2022 an FIR bearing No.08/2022 was registered against the petitioner qua Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jaipur under the provisions of Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short ‘the Act of 1988’).

2.4. On 04.03.2022, charge-sheet bearing No.63/2022 was filed in the aforesaid criminal matter qua which trial is pending. Moreover, departmental proceedings on the same set of charges were also started. Subsequently, on 23.03.2022, the aforesaid departmental proceedings were stayed by the Court.

2.5. Consequently, vide order dated 13.10.2022 the suspension order of the petitioner was revoked and petitioner was directed to report back on duty. Thereafter, vide transfer order dated 13.10.2022 numbering 36/2022 the petitioner was transferred from the North Western Railway Zone (Kanakpura Outpost Jaipur) to Southern Railway.

3. In this backdrop, learned counsel for the petitioner had submitted that the said transfer order suffers from malafides as the same is against the transfer policy sans jurisdiction.

4. It was further submitted that Divisional Security Commissioner had no jurisdiction and authority to pass such orders. Moreover, copy of the said transfer order was not supplied to the petitioner.

5. Furthermore, it was submitted that the said transfer order resulted in the loss of seniority qua the said post.

6. Additionally, it was submitted that the said transfer order was not the outcome of administrative exigencies. It was further submitted that the petitioners’ wife is working in the Government School and their two daughters are studying in a primary school. Therefore, the said transfer which is sought on personal grounds is against the transfer policy of the Railway Protection Force Rules, 1987 (for short ‘the Rules of 1987’), more particularly, Rules 90, 93.9, 99 and 153.4, and against the direction dated 18.09.2014 as well as office memo dated 02.02.2010, which categorically provides that on account of personal family reasons the working couple (spouse policy) should be posted at the same/nearest station(Annexure-7).

7. Further, it was submitted that to ensure petitioners’ presence for trial in ongoing criminal proceedings, their posting should remain unchanged. To substantiate the above said contentions, reliance was placed upon the dictum encapsulated in Somesh Tiwari Vs. Union of India & Ors. reported in AIR 2009 SC 1399 and S. Suresh Vs.Union of India & Ors. registered as Writ Petition (C) No.29239/2016.

8. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents had stoutly opposed the contentions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners and had prayed for dismissal of the present petition on the following grounds:-

8.1. That the Divisional Security Commissioner acted under the directions of Principal Chief Division Security Commissioner, who is competent authority to transfer any employee from one Railway Zone to another Zone in R.P.F, therefore in light of the said delegated duties, the Divisio