S.M. ARIF, Vs. STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY ADDITIONAL CHIEF SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIES, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA, GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM 695 001 AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who is the General Manager (Marketing) of Handicrafts Development Corporation of Kerala Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Corporation" for short), has filed this writ petition challenging Ext.P5 order and Ext.P6 memo of charge mainly on the ground that the the 2nd respondent, the Managing Director, who is personally impleaded as the 3rd respondent, does not have the jurisdiction to issue such orders. Allegations of malafides are also raised against the 3rd respondent.

(2.) As per the order Ext.P5 issued on 20.4.2017, the petitioner was posted as the Head of Export Division, relieving him from the responsibilities of Domestic Marketing and Commercial Department. He is thereby deputed to Mumbai temporarily, for a period of three months, to locate potential foreign buyers and establish effective linkages with major export houses in Mumbai. Paragraph 1 of Ext.P5. reads as follows:

(3.) Ext.P5 order is stated to have been issued on the basis of resolution No.98 of 278th meeting of the Board of Directors held on 14.3.2017. In Ext.P5, it is stated that the Board of Directors discussed about the sales performance of the Corporation and found that there was no visible improvement in the turn over for the past several years and a thorough restructuring of the present market system was necessary with specific need to focus on exports, institutional marketing, souvenir marketing etc; the Board considered the fact that the post of Marketing Manager which was later re-designated as General Manager was sanctioned by Government specifically for the promotion of export business and found that there is enormous hope for improvement in the markets of handicrafts. Therefore it was found necessary to restructure the marketing set up, to assign separate teams for export, domestic marketing, institution marketing, exhibitions etc. with specific targets for better focus and efficiency. Considering the importance to be given for development of exports, it was decided to form a separate export division and to assign the responsibility of export development with the senior most officers in marketing Department-General Manager and Senior Manager. It was also found necessary to locate international buyers working in liaison with major export houses based in Mumbai and New Delhi from where major chunk of exports are occurring, so that a definite action plan could be formulated for setting up a full fledged export division. The petitioner's posting at Mumbai is stated to be on the basis of the said resolution. While issuing Ext.P5 order it was directed that the staff in Mumbai unit shall extend full co-operation and render necessary assistance required by the petitioner in the collection of export data and related activities. Simultaneously Smt.Beena V.T. Manager (P and A) was temporarily assigned the additional charge of Commercial Department in the place of petitioner.