Point of Law : Hon’ble Supreme Court do not confer any indefeasible right upon petitioner to claim his transfer or posting of his choice and his individual convenience is subject to overarching needs of administration.

ORDER :

1. Notice confined to respondent No. 1 only. Mr. Anil Kumar God, Advocate, appears and waives service of notice on behalf of respondent No. 1.

2. The instant petition has been filed for the grant of following substantive relief:

“That the impugned transfer order dated 20.07.2022 as contained in Annexure P-1 may kindly be quashed and set aside and the petitioner may kindly be allowed to continue at the present place of posting in the interest of justice and fair play.”

3. The petitioner was working as Assistant Engineer with the respondent-Board and was transferred and posted in Electrical Division, Rewalsar in District Mandi, on 12.06.2019 and now vide order dated 20.07.2022 has been ordered to be transferred to the Office of SE(D) P/H Electrical, Sundernagar, which too falls in District Mandi.

4. The only ground on which the instant petition has been filed is that the petitioner is currently aged about 56 years and is due to retire within one year and four months and moreover the parents of the petitioner are oldaged and ailing being 85 years old. According to the petitioner, the transfer is contrary to law, more particularly, Clause 5.4 of the Comprehensive Guiding Principles, 2013.

5. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the material placed on record.

6. At the outset, it needs to be observed that as per settled law transfer is an incident of service. First, whether, and if so where, an employee should be posted are matters which are governed by the exigencies of service. An employee has no fundamental right or, for that matter, a vested right to claim a transfer or posting of his/her choice. Second, executive instructions and administrative directions concerning transfers and postings do not confer an indefeasible right to claim a transfer or posting. Individual convenience of persons, who are employed in the service is subject to the overarching needs of the administration. [Refer: S.K. Nausad Rahaman and Others vs. Union of India and Others, AIR 2022 SC 1494]

7. The sole claim of the petitioner is based on the Comprehensive Guiding Principles, 2013, which in terms of the aforesaid judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court do not confer any indefeasible right upon the petitioner to claim his transfer or posting of his choice and his individual convenience is subject to the overarching needs of the administration.

8. The petitioner currently is nearing 57 years of age and is fortunate to have his parents alive. Taking into consideration the age of the petitioner, his parents would, obviously, be in their 80s, as alleged. But, this in itself cannot be a ground to assail the transfer as, firstly, taking into consideration the age of the petitioner, his parents would obviously be in advanced-stages and would be facing age-related issues. But, then the petitioner despite his belonging to the State Cadre has been posed at a station which falls in District Mandi. We take a judicial notice of the fact that this part of the District Mandi is having a plain terrain and its topography is otherwise not difficult.

9. As a last ditch effort, the petitioner would urge that being a couple case, his transfer ought to be cancelled. Even this contention is without merit as the petitioner has failed to point out the station as also the name of the employer/department where his wife is stated to be working and currently posted.

10. The petitioner is serving in the Board and if his wife is serving in a government department, then it is for the wife to move the government seeking her transfer on the ground of being couple case as respondent No. 1 has no jurisdiction or authority and is not vested with any authority much less power to order the transfer of an employee, who is not in the services of the Board. This authority vests only in the State Government.

11. Lastly and more importantly, it is more than settled that transfer is an administrative act and writ Court while exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 of the C