NEERU GUPTA Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND & OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Sri Mayank Rajan Joshi, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Vikas Pande, learned Standing Counsel for the State Government and, with their consent, the Writ Petition is disposed of at the stage of admission.

(2.) The writ jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked questioning the order of transfer of the petitioner from Rishikesh to Chinyalisaur in Uttarkashi District. The petitioner is an Associate Professor serving in the Directorate of Higher Education, Uttarakhand from 21.04.1998. She worked at Kashipur from 21.04.1988 to 10.07.2005 i.e. for a period of seven years and two months and, thereafter, from 11.07.2005 till 31.05.2018 (for a period of twelve years eight months and twenty days) at Rishikesh. The petitioner has been working in accessible areas, for the past more than two decades ever since 1998, without having worked, during this period, in a remote area.

(3.) The Uttarakhand Annual Transfer for Public Servants Act, 2017, makes it compulsory for those who have worked for ten years or more in an accessible area to be transferred to a remote area. While the petitioner claims that she is unwell, and has been suffering from a Neurological disorder, the petitioner has, instead of seeking her retention in close proximity to the place where adequate medical facilities are available, chosen to array the fourth respondent as a respondent contending that his transfer to Haldwani is contrary to the provisions of the Uttarakhand Annual Transfer for Public Servants Act, 2017.