NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR WPS No. 1978 of 2024 Ramesh Kumar Sahu S/o Late Chand Ram Sahu Aged About 38 Years (Sub Inspector), R/o Village Kasdol, Tahsil Kaddol, District- Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara, Chhattisgarh.

---- PETITIONER Versus

1. State of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Department of Home, Mahanadi Bhawan, Mantralaya, Nava Raipur, District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

2. Director General of Police Police Headquarters, Sector 19 Nava Raipur, District- Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

3. Superintendent of Police Balod, District- Balod, Chhattisgarh.

4. Superintendent of Police Dhamtari, District- Dhamtari, Chattisgarh.

5. Election Commission of India Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road New Delhi. 110001 --------RESPONDENTS __________________________________________________________

For the Petitioner : Mr. Hemant Kesharwani, Advocate.

For the Respondent/State : Mr. Vivek Sharma, Addl. AG For the respondent No.5. : Mr. Rakesh Jha, Advocate _________________________________________________________

Hon'ble Shri Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas

Order on Board

02/04/2024

1. The petitioner who is working as Sub Inspector in the Police Department has filed the instant writ petition against the order dated 26.02.2024 by which the petitioner’s earlier transfer from Dhamatari to Balod has been modified and he has been transferred to District Bijapur.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that in continuation of the order passed by Election Commission of India, order dated 15.02.2024 (Annexure P/3) was passed and the petitioner was posted at Balod. In pursuance of that order, he has joined the services on transfer as evident from the (Annexure P/1), thus the petitioner has already executed the said order, therefore, he would submit that subsequent place of posting at Bijapur is against the well settled legal position of law that the executive order cannot be cancelled/modified and would pray for quashing of the subsequent order dated 26.02.2024.

3. Per contract, learned Additional AG would submit that this is special situation which exists because of the upcoming parliamentary election as all the government servant on deputation with Election Commission of India and the State is bound to comply with the direction given by Election Commission of India. The Election Commission of India vide order dated 23.02.2024 has issued guidelines with regard to posting of the Police officer which is as under:-

5.3 Police Officer :- These instructions shall be applicable to the police department officers such as Range ADGs/Igs/ DIGs, Commandants of State Armed Police, SSPs, SPs, Addl, Sps, Sub Divisional Head of Police, SHOs, Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors, Ris/Sergeant Majors or equivalent ranks, who are responsible for security arrangement or deployment of police forces in the District at Election Time. The police officials who are posted in functional departments like computerization, special branch, training etc are not covered under these instructions. Following shall be followed.

(i) The Police Sub-Inspectors and above should not be posted in their home District.

(ii) If a Police Sub-Inspectors has completed or would be completing a tenure of 3 years out of four years on or before the cutoff date in a police sub division, then he should be transferred out to a police sub-division which does not fall in the same AC. IF that is not possible due to small size of district, then he/she should be transferred out of the District.

4. Thereafter another circular was issued by the Election Commission of India on 23.02.2024, paragraph 2 and 3 are as under:-

2. It has come to the Commission's notice that in certain cases officers are being transferred /posted in the adjacent districts within the same parliamentary Constituency thereby undermining the sprit of transfer policy.

3. Learned counsel for the State would submit that the Commission has directed that except for the States/ Uts that comprise of up to two Parliamentary Constituencies, all States shall ensure that offic