An Employee In The Last Year Of Service Should Not Be Transferred Ordinarily : Rajasthan HC [Read Judgment]

The Rajasthan High Court has held that an employee who is set to retire within a year should not be ordinarily transferred.

"a superannuating employee, in the last year of his service, should not ordinarily be disturbed by the State, as a model employer, lest the exercise entail unwarranted inconvenience and difficulties for him in post retiral settlement", oberved Justice Alok Sharma, while dismissing a challenge brought against the order of administrative tribunal, which had quashed a transfer order.

The original case was filed by Anil Kumar Jain, an RTO, against a order issued in March 2019, transferring him to Alwar to Jaipur. He pointed out that he was superannuating in September 2019, within six months time, and therefore the transfer order caused him immense hardship.

Rule 80 of Rajasthan Civil Services (Pension) Rules 1996 was relied on by Jain to support his case. This rule provided for the initiation of proceedings for preparing pension papers of employees who are to retire within two years. It was noted that the intent of the rule is to ensure that an employee set to retire would get his pension papers processed so that he can avail his retirement benefits in a timely manner.

Also, the decision of the Rajasthan High Court in Manjula Patak v State of Rajasthan, holding that an employee who is to retire within one year should not be ordinarily transferred, was referred.  Transfer, if without an obvious cause, would cause avoidable disruption at the fag end of a government servant's career and create difficulties in post retiral settlement, submitted the petitioner.

The Tribunal quashed the transfer order, and reinstated Jain to his original post at Alwar. This was challenged by Rani Jain, who was posted at Alwar upon Jain's transfer, before the High Court.

Justice Alok Sharma dismissed the challenge, noting that the transfer order was against Manjula Pathak decision.

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