RAMJAN ALI AHAMED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. F Faridi, learned counsel for the petitioner who submits that the petitioner is aggrieved with the Transfer Order dtd. 11/9/2024 and the rejection of his representation vide Communication dtd. 27/1/2025. The learned counsel submits that the petitioner has completed 29 years of service under the respondent organization and he had undergone surgery on 19/3/2021 in Bangalore. However, his condition did not improve and he has been declared to be 50% permanently disabled by the Medical Board. For this reason, the petitioner who is from West Bengal submitted an application for posting him near his home State on 30/8/2024. The said application was forwarded by the respondent authority concerned to the higher authority on 10/9/2024 but however, before the same could be considered, the posting order of the petitioner came to be issued on 11/9/2024. The petitioner again submitted his representation on 17/9/2024 which was also forwarded to the authority concerned. However, vide the Communication dtd. 27/1/2025, the application of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that the order of posting had already been issued and he asked to join his new place of posting and submit his application for transfer on compassionate ground from there. Aggrieved with the same, the petitioner is before this Court.

(2.) The learned counsel submits that as per the Medical Board proceedings, he has been found to be 50% permanently disabled when he was posted in Srinagar (J&K) and now by the impugned order of posting, he has been transferred to Jamu Tawi. It is, therefore, on this account that the petitioner has expressed the difficulty to accept the new place of posting since he is 50% permanently disabled and posting in a high attitude area would cause him great difficulty. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the petitioner is also covered by the O.M dtd. 2/2/2024, which is a guidelines for certain facilities in respect of persons with disabilities who are already employed in Government for efficient performance of their duties. He submits that as far as possible, the persons with disability may be exempted from the rotational transfer policy/transfer and be allowed to continue with the same job where there would have achieve the desired performance. Further preference in place of posting at the time of transfer/promotion may be given to the persons with disability subject to the administrative constraints. The learned counsel submits that prior to issuance of the transfer order, the petitioner had already submitted his request for posting near his home station and therefore, the respo-ndent authorities ought to have considered his application and not reject the same on ground of issuance of the transfer order by that time.

(3.) Mr. K K Parasar, learned CGC, on the other hand, submits that the petitioner is also covered by an amendment to paragraph No. 29 of Chapter 24 of the Record Office Instructions 01/2019 wherein, it has been provided that employees who are declared with Bench Mark disability not less than 40% duly certified by the competent authority may be considered to the station where medical, educational, communicational facilities and connectivity are available on rotational basis subject to administrative constraints. The learned counsel submits that the place where the petiti-oner has been posted in Jamu Tawi has an Army base hospital nearby and therefore, the interest of the petitioner has been duly taken care of.