Judicial interference in employee transfers limited unless mala fide or statutory violation; administrative guidelines not enforceable rights.

ORDER 

Per : Hon’ble Shri Lok Ranjan, Member (A)

The present Original Application is second round of litigation relating to posting on transfer upon promotion of the Applicant. The Applicant is aggrieved by the posting upon her promotion to the post of TGT- Hindi vide the Order dated 06.11.2023 qua the Applicant ; and the Order issued vide Memorandum dated 01.03.2024 of the Respondent No.2, whereby after consideration of the Applicant’s representation dated 09.11.2023, the request for modification of her station of posting on promotion had not been acceded to ; and also further by the Order dated 05.03.2024 relieving her to join in the post/station to which she had been transferred on promotion.

2. The matrix of facts relevant to the case is briefly as follows. The Applicant, working as Primary Teacher (PRT) under the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), had got transferred and was posted at KV No.1, Khatipura, Jaipur in the year 2019 and at KV No.2, Jhotwara, Jaipur since the year 2021. Eventually, based upon a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE), she was promoted on 06.11.2023 as Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) (Hindi) ; and her name had figured at Sl. No.179in the Select Panel of UR Category for the Year-2022. The Applicant had thereby been also posted at KV Baroda No.II (EME Campus) ; whereupon she had submitted a representation dated 09.11.2023 requesting for modification in the place she was being transferred to, citing that the husband of the Applicant was serving under the Government of Rajasthan against the post of Senior Teacher (Hindi) at Mahatma Gandhi Government School at Jhotwara, Jaipur ; and that she and her husband had the responsibility of taking care of their two minor children, being part of a nuclear family.

3. Upon an O.A. No.396/2023 being previously filed by the Applicant before the Hon’ble Jodhpur Bench of this Tribunal citing non-action on her representation dated 09.11.2023, the Respondents were directed vide Order dated 15.11.2023 inter alia to decide the Applicant’s representation dated 09.11.2023, keeping in view the fact that the husband of the Applicant is serving under Government of Rajasthan at Jaipur within a period of two weeks and till decision on her representation, the Applicant shall not be insisted to join her new place of posting. Vide Memorandum dated 01.03.2024 of the Respondents, the said representation was considered and disposed of, by holding that the representation lacked in merit in terms of the grounds presented ; and accordingly, it could not be acceded to.

4. Through the present O.A., the said Memorandum dated 01.03.2024 of the Respondents is also impugned, by submitting that it was issued in a mechanical manner in that while the Respondents have taken the plea of 'Merit', many teachers lower in the merit have been accommodated at the same place where they were working earlier. The Applicant had also imputed that the Order dated 06.11.2023 has been issued in a pick-and-choose / random manner without application of any merit – as many teachers were allowed promotions at the same place where they were performing their duties earlier; some teachers were allowed promotions at a nearby place ; and also some teachers, the Applicant inter alia, were allowed promotions at a distant place, although the Applicant had averred that she was not afraid of joining promotion out of her hometown. Further, it is the case of the Applicant that by her posting at KV Baroda No. II(EME Campus), she would not be able to take care of her family including two young children – a responsibility enjoined upon every Government servant through the Rule (5) of the CCS (C