PARAM HANSH MISHRA Vs. UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Having served in Delhi for a period of three years, petitioner has been transferred to a Field Station in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. Aggrieved, he has filed the present writ petition challenging the said order on the ground that the same is in violation of his Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution, as also the policy regulating transfers and postings in the Indian Air Force. The order is also challenged on the ground that the same is vitiated by malafides and bias against the petitioner.

(2.) We have heard Mr. Pandey, counsel appearing for the petitioner, and perused the record. Transfer of a public servant from one place to another is made in the exigencies of service and are not interfered with by the Courts unless they are shown to be incompetent in the sense that the authority issuing the order has no jurisdiction to do so or found to be vitiated by mala fides or extraneous considerations. This is particularly so in the case of Armed Forces, BSF, CRPF and ITBP, whose personnel are duty-bound to serve at any place to which they may be transferred. The legal position on the subject is settled by a long line of decisions of the Supreme Court. Reference to some of those decisions should in our view suffice.

(3.) In B. Varadha Rao Vs. State of Karnataka and Others AIR 1986 SC 1955, the Supreme Court summed up the law regarding transfer of an employee in the following words :