UMESH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By medium of the extant writ petition, the petitioner is seeking the following substantive relief:

(2.) Precisely, the fact of the case, as encapsulated in the writ petition, are that the petitioner, on being selected as Forest Guard on 14.03.2011, assigned Special Duty at Tretha Range Office and on 04.08.2012 he was transferred to Runukothi Beat (a tribal area) Divisional Forest Officer, Bharmour, Chamba, where he remained posted till 01.03.2016. On 16.06.2016 the petitioner was regularized and on 19.06.2016 he was adjusted in Morthu Beat Upper Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division, but, again, on 21.08.2020, through impugned transfer order, he was transferred to Forest Check Post Tunuhatti, Dalhousie Forest Division, amidst the ban on transfers. As per the petitioner, he has not completed his normal stint of three years at Morthu, so his transfer is illegal and in violation of the Transfer Policy. The transfer of the petitioner is illegal, tainted with arbitrariness and without any administrative exigency. In view of the above background, the petitioner, by maintaining the extant petition, seeks the relief that impugned transfer order, dated 21.08.2020, be quashed and set-aside and he be allowed to continue at Morthu Beat, Uppar Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division.

(3.) Per contra, respondents No. 1 to 3/State, by instituting an elaborative and detailed reply, resisted and refuted the contentions raised by the petitioner. As per respondents No. 1 to 3, on 15.01.2016 the petitioner took the charge of Bakani Beat, Upper Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division and on completion of his normal stint at Bakani Beat, on his request, made to DFO Chamba, through application dated 15.06.2019, he was transferred and adjusted at Morthu Beat, Upper Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division, by Chief Conservator of Forests, Chamba Forest Circle. It is further averred in the reply that from Morthu Beat, Upper Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division, the petitioner was transferred to Forest Check Post Tunuhatti, Dalhousie Forest Division vide CCF Chamba Officer order dated 21.08.2020 and resultantly on 29.08.2020 he was relieved. Respondent No. 4, Shri Sunil Kumar, Forest Guard, consequent upon his transfer from Forest Check Post Tunuhatti, Dalhousie Forest Division to Morthu Beat, Upper Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division, joined on 29.08.2020. It is further averred that under the shadow of stay order dated 04.09.2020, the petitioner is presently working in Morthu Beat, Upper Chamba Range, Chamba Forest Division. Lastly, it is prayed that the extant writ petition be dismissed, as the petitioner has been transferred after approval of the competent authority with no tinge of malafide and not in violation of statutory provisions.