No Absolute Protection For Govt Employees To Continue Service At Desired Location, Administrative Exigency Precedes Familial Convenience: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court (“the Court”) has reiterated that the scope of judicial review against transfer orders of government employees is minuscule. The Court observed that transfer being part and parcel of a transferable government job, government employees do not have fundamental protection to continue serving at a location of their liking.

The bench of Justice Sameer Jain observed that the decision regarding postings of government employees falls purely in the domain of appropriate authority or department which advances the department's output and service efficiency. The Bench held that the limited scope of the Court's interference with such transfer orders is possible if the orders are vitiated by some malice on the part of the transferring authority or are passed in violation of any statutes. The Court said that in the absence of such restriction on the court's writ jurisdiction, the smooth working of the government shall be heavily impacted if all the employees are allowed to contest their postings.

“The rationale exercised to circumscribe the Courts interference with transfer orders whilst exercising writ jurisdiction, primarily pertains to the fact that a bedlam of an aggravated magnitude shall ensue within the workings of the Government, if all employees, posted at a location of their liking, refuse to and/or contest their postings, when issued on account of administrative exigencies,” it explained.

The Court was hearing petitions filed by government employees who had received interim protection orders in their favour against their transfers. The petitioners wanted directions to make those interim orders absolute on the grounds that the interim protection had been in favour of the petitioners for a long time.

While the Court agreed to the fact that transfer orders lead to difficulties in the family set-up of the employees, it stated that such a factor alone could not be used to strike down the transfer orders, since administrative exigencies prevail over familial conveniences.

“A government employee, posted at a location of their liking, does not have the fundamental protection to continue serving at the said location, especially in light of the fact that the incident of transfer, is a part and parcel of the conditions of service, when employed on a transferable post. It is true that the order of transfer often causes a lot of difficulties and dislocation in the family set up of the concerned employees but on that score alone, the order of transfer cannot be struck down. Administrative exigencies ought to prevail and/or take precedence over the familial and individualistic priorities of the employees posted on transferable jobs,” it concluded.

Accordingly, the Court decided to make the interim orders absolute but observed that in future, the relevant government department shall be at liberty to transfer the petitioners in light of administrative exigencies.

Title: Poonam Gurjar v State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 121

Click Here To Read/Download Order