The vacancy position as the primary criteria for issuing posting/transfer/attachment orders and the plenary power of the Director General BSF in this regard.

ORDER :

Rahul Bharti, J.

1. The appellant is of the rank of Inspector (General Duty) No. 100078646 in the Border Security Force (BSF). The Inspector General (IG), Frontier (Ftr.) Headquarter (HQ), Border Security Force (BSF), Jammu came to pass an Order No.2069/Estt-II/Jammu/BSF/2O24/3781-88 dated 20.03.2024 thereby ordering the posting of the appellant to 141 Bn. BSF against an existing vacancy with immediate effect and directing him to join by 30.03.2024. This order is said to have been passed with the approval of the competent authority.

2. The appellant felt aggrieved by his said posting to 141 Bn. BSF reckoning it to be a transfer premature and, therefore, came forward with a hand written representation dated 21.03.2024 to the IG BSF, Ftr. HQ BSF, Jammu, narrating therein that the appellant is passing through mental agony due to unspelled personal reasons and thereby seeks an audience from the IG BSF, Ftr. HQ BSF, Jammu without referring anything relating to his said posting to 141 Bn BSF.

3. The appellant, acting in furtherance of his purported grievance that his posting to 141 Bn BSF was wrong and unwarranted, came forward with institution of a writ petition WP(C) No. 679/2024 before the writ Court, thereby seeking quashment of an Order No.2069/Estt-II/Jammu/BSF/ 2O24/3781-88 dated 20.03.2024 read with Movement Order No.3087/2O23-EstI-III/BSF/3918-24 dated 22.03.2024, and consequently seeking in his favour a direction for enabling him to complete full spell of three years tenure of his posting in the Ftr. HQ BSF, Paloura.

4. In the writ petition, the appellant came forward with averments relating to his appointment as Sub-Inspector BSF on 24.05.2010 under No. 100078646 and having to his credit in the course of his service not only grant of awards in recognition of his appreciable performance of duty but also promotion from Sub-Inspector to Inspector with effect from 01.04.2016.

5. In the writ petition, the appellant came to enlist the respective places of postings during the course of his service, both as Sub-Inspector and later as an Inspector, which as per the appellant’s self certification were postings at Hard Stations. In this sequence, the appellant’s last posting, purportedly to a Hard Station, was his transfer from 16th Bn Ftr. HQ, Rajasthan to Paloura Camp, Ftr HQ, Jammu in the year 2019.

6. From his said hard posting at Paloura Camp Ftr. HQ, Jammu the petitioner came to be transferred to Ftr. HQ, Jammu on 03.09.2021 which is said to be a static Headquarter where the appellant was supposed to have a posting of three years stay, which came to be prematurely cut short by six months.

7. The sheet-anchor of the appellant’s challenge to his posting to 141 Bn BSF located at Khanter Nala, Poonch is Order No. 20/149/97-Estt/BSF/4321-4631 dated 25.02.2014 (in short “order dated 25.02.2014”) read with Order No.20/149/97-Estt/BSF/18737-19037 dated O5.O9.2016 (in short “order dated 05.09.2016”) both issued by the Govt. of India through its Ministry of Home Affairs, Directorate General Border Security Force, Personnel Directorate.

8. The writ petition so filed by the appellant came to suffer dismissal at its inception stage when the learned writ court came to acknowledge the appearance of Mr. Vishal Sharma, DSGI on behalf of the writ respondents who came forward to make submissions orally against the maintainability of the writ petition so filed by the appellant and which came to be taken note of by the learned writ Court to order dismissal of the writ petition by virtue of a judgment dated 27.03.2024, aggrieved whereof the appellant has come forward with the present letters patent appeal (LPA) before us.

9. A perusal of the order dated 25.02.2014 would show that it is an outcome of a decision taken during the Force Commander’s Conference held at FHQ BSF, New Delhi on 10.01.2014 which resulted in its approval by the Director General (DG) BSF, whereby Special DsG (Eastern & Western Command) came to be empowered to issue orders of post