The Jabalpur Bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday dismissed the petition of a government employee whose representation against transfer order has been rejected by the Commissioner, Public Instructions, Bhopal.
The petition was filed by Ram Krishan Barkhade through advocate Jitendra Arya, challenging the order dated 23.02.2021 passed by the Commissioner, Public Instructions, Bhopal, deciding the representation of the petitioner in pursuance to the direction issued by the High Court.
The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that by order dated 23.11.2019 passed by the District Education Officer, Harda the petitioner was transferred from Middle School, Khedipura, District Harda to Middle School, Jhirpi. The petitioner challenged the order of transfer in the High Court. The Court by order dated 18.12.2019 directed the respondents to consider and decide the representation of the petitioner. In pursuance of the said order, the District Education Officer, Harda decided the representation rejecting the same vide order dated 31.12.2019 and directing the petitioner to join at the transferred place.
The Counsel submitted that the petitioner challenged the order of the District Education Officer dated 31.12.2019 by filing the WP No. 738/2020, which was disposed of along with the other batch of petitions vide order dated 27.02.2020 directing petitioner to prefer a representation before the competent authority i.e. Commissioner, Public Instruction, Bhopal. In pursuance of the order of the High Court, the Commissioner, Public Instructions has decided the representation of the petitioner and passed the impugned order dated 23.02.2021 rejecting the representation.
The Counsel further stated that by order dated 23.11.2029, the petitioner has been transferred from one block to another, which is against the transfer policy.
A Single Bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi, from perusal of the record observed that earlier the representation against the order of transfer was filed by the petitioner before the incompetent authority i.e. District Education Officer, who decided the representation rejecting the same. Thereafter, again the petitioner preferred WP No. 738/2020 challenging the order of rejection of the representation.
The Court vide order 27.02.2020 while disposing of the petition alongwith other batch of petitions directed the petitioner to file a fresh petition before the competent authority i.e. commissioner, Public Instructions, Bhopal. In pursuance of the same, the petitioner preferred the representation.
“Now, in pursuance to the order passed by the Court, the Commissioner, Public Instructions, Bhopal, who is the highest authority of the School Education Department and competent to transfer the petitioner from one place to another, has decided the representation of the petitioner rejecting the same by the impugned order dated 23.02.2021”, the Court noted.
While dismissing the petition, the Court clarified that “the transfer is an incident of service and the same is purely an administrative arrangement, which is the prerogative of the authority. Therefore, interference in such matters exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not warranted”.
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