RAKESH KUMAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel for the Railways.

(2.) Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that for the time being the petitioner is questioning that part of the order whereby the direction of the authorities to transfer him to Dhanbad has been upheld. He submits that Dhanbad is a far away place and since the proceedings are going on at Hajipur, therefore, a long distance travel would cause inconvenience and even otherwise the petitioner could not have been subjected to an inter divisional transfer. Learned counsel has relied on the observations made by a Division Bench in C.W.J.C. No.12706 of 2016, decided on 20th June, 2017.

(3.) Learned counsel for the Railways, on the other hand, submits that the petitioner's transfer had been occasioned on account of his having indulged in certain malpractices that was detected by the Vigilance Department and, consequently, it was in this background that an administrative transfer was made which is essentially not a punitive order. It is submitted that the order passed on the second occasion sending him to Dhanbad was only to enable the proceedings to continue at Hajipur and to remove the petitioner from mass public contact.