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Transfer Application Of CAPF Personnel Can't Be Kept In Limbo Merely Because New Procedure Is Yet To Be Evolved: Meghalaya High Court
Udit Singh
1 Feb 2023 3:50 PM IST
The Meghalaya High Court on Tuesday held that transfer application of a CAPF personnel shall not be kept in halt on the ground that earlier procedure has been kept in abeyance or a new procedure has not yet been evolved.The division bench comprising Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Chief Justice and Justice W. Diengdoh observed,"There is no doubt that a new body or a new procedure will be put...
The Meghalaya High Court on Tuesday held that transfer application of a CAPF personnel shall not be kept in halt on the ground that earlier procedure has been kept in abeyance or a new procedure has not yet been evolved.
The division bench comprising Justice Sanjib Banerjee, Chief Justice and Justice W. Diengdoh observed,
"There is no doubt that a new body or a new procedure will be put in place as expeditiously as possible for the benefit of all personnel in the CAPFs. However, merely because the erstwhile procedure has been kept in abeyance or a new procedure has not yet been evolved would not imply that the writ petitioner, who had initially applied in 2012 for transfer, has to be kept in limbo or he has to wait for the months and years before a policy is firmed up by the Union or the CAPFs or a methodology is put in place in regard to transfer of key personnel."
It was the case of the writ petitioner (present respondent) who is an ophthalmologist and was posted at the Assam Rifles’ composite medical facility at Sukhovi, Nagaland. In 2012, the writ petitioner applied to be transferred to a similar composite medical facility of another CAPF, namely the Border Security Force, in Patgaon near Guwahati. The basis for the request was that the writ petitioner’s wife serves as a professor in a government college in Guwahati and the writ petitioner has a young daughter.
The application was considered by the Union Home Ministry and the writ petitioner was granted permission to obtain the transfer, subject to the concurrence of the Director-General of Assam Rifles (DGAR). However, the DGAR refused to concur in the transfer since there was no available ophthalmologist at the Sukhovi facility and the DGAR insisted that upon the Central government making arrangements for an appropriate replacement to be deployed at Sukhovi, the writ petitioner’s request could be considered or acceded to.
The present respondent challenged the decision of DGAR under Article 226 of the Constitution. The court in the writ petition directed the the relevant committee comprising the Union Home Secretary and the Directors-General of the CAPFs to consider the petitioner’s request and dispose of the same expeditiously.
The appellants submit that by the time the impugned order was passed on May 9, 2022, the Assam Rifles had requested the Union to keep the transfer committee in abeyance because of the peculiar difficulties that Assam Rifles and some of the other CAPFs operating in remote areas faced. Accordingly, the Union Home Ministry kept the transfer committee that had then been recently constituted in abeyance and the entire matter is being looked into afresh.
The appellants further submit that objection of the Assam Rifles pertaining to the constitution of the transfer committee had been made prior to the writ petition being disposed of and to which the appellants carried a review petition which was dismissed by the order dated September 21, 2022.
The court directed the Union Home Ministry to take a reasoned decision on the application of the writ petitioner that had earlier found favour with the Union ministry and do the needful thereupon within a period of 3 months.
Also, the court stated that if the petitioner’s prayer for transfer is declined, adequate reasons should be indicated in support.
Case Title: Union of India & Ors. v. Dr. Dipankar Chakraborty
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Meg) 3
