S B BHAGWAT Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule; with the consent of Counsel for the parties returnable forthwith. With the consent of Counsel and at their request the Petition is taken up for hearing and final disposal.

(2.) The Petitioner seeks to challenge an order dated 29 August 2011 by which he was transferred from Sangli to Solapur. The Petitioner joined service with the Maharashtra Textile Corporation Ltd. On 2 December 2003, the Petitioner was redeployed with the Maharashtra State Other Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation Ltd., the Third Respondent. In 2007, the Petitioner was posted as District Manager in Pune District. On 23 November 2007, 15 March 2010 and 13 April 2010, the Petitioner sought his transfer to Kolhapur on grounds of ill health. On 31 May 2010, the Petitioner was transferred from Pune District to Sangli District upon the completion of a tenure of three years.

(3.) On 18 May 2011, the Third Respondent sought the approval of the Ministry of Social Justice, Welfare of Nomadic, De Notified Tribes and Other Backward Classes of the State of Maharashtra (the Second Respondent), under sub section (5) of Section 4 of the Maharashtra Government Servants' Regulation of Transfers and Prevention of Delay in Discharge of Official Duties Act, 2005, for transferring six employees on administrative grounds though they had not completed the normal tenure of service of three years. The six employees whose transfer was sought, included the Fourth Respondent, but not the Petitioner. The Fourth Respondent was proposed to be transferred from Nashik to Satara. On 27 July 2011, the Second Respondent in response to the request directed that transfers be effected of 14 persons under Section 4(5) as a special case. The name of the Petitioner was not part of the list of the 14 persons. The Chairperson of the Third Respondent thereupon addressed a letter dated 9 August 2011 to the Secretary of the Second Respondent stating that the transfers proposed by the State Government would result in dislocation of administrative work. Eventually, an order has been passed on 29 August 2011, by which the Fourth Respondent has been transferred to Sangli as District Manager, whereas the Petitioner has been transferred from Sangli to Solapur as District Manager.