AMARDEEP DUBE Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed by the petitioners on 8. 7. 2003 against the respondents with the prayer that by an appropriate writ, order of direction, the impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003 passed by the Dy. Secretary, Local Self Government Department, Jaipur transferring the petitioners Amardeep Dube and Kailash Joshi from Urban Improvement Trust, Jodhpur to Municipal Corporation, Jodhpur and Jaitaran respectively be taken on record and it may be quashed and set aside and further, the order Annex. 2 dated 4. 7. 2003 passed by the respondent No. 2 Secretary, Urban Improvement Trust, Jodhpur by which both the petitioners were relieved in pursuance of transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003, be quashed and set aside.

(2.) THE case of the petitioners as put forward by them in this writ petition is as follows:- THE case of the petitioners is that under the provisions of Section 8 of the Rajasthan Urban Improvement Trust Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act of 1959"), the Urban Improvement Trust (hereinafter referred to as "the Trust") was incorporated as a Trust in which the petitioners were appointed on the post of LDCs on daily wages basis by the Secretary of the Trust. THE petitioner No. 1 Amardeep Dube was appointed on 1. 4. 1983 and the petitioner No. 2 Kailash Joshi was appointed on 20. 10. 1990 and thereafter, their services were regularised. THE further case of the petitioners is that under the provisions of the Act of 1959, the Trusts in various districts were constituted and they are autonomous bodies. In the Act of 1959, Section 24a was added by the Act No. 16 of 1992 published in Rajasthan Gazette Extraordinary 4 (Ka) dated 5. 5. 1992 and the same reads as under:- " 24a Power of transfer.-THE officers and employees of a Trust may be transferred, by the State Government from one Trust to another or to the JDA in accordance with the rules made under section 74. " Thus, a bare perusal of Section 24a of the Act of 1959 clearly reveals that officers and employees of a Trust may be transferred by the State Government from one Trust to another or to the JDA in accordance with the rules made under section 74. THE further case of the petitioners is that in the State of Rajasthan, there are two developing wings of different cities, one is called Urban Development and Housing Department and another is called as Local Self Government Department. In the first category, UIT and Housing Board are governed whereas in the second category, only Municipalities are governed in Local Self Government Department. THE further case of the petitioners is that through impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003, which was not served upon the petitioners, they were transferred from Urban Improvement Trust, Jodhpur to Municipal Corporation, Jodhpur and Jaitaran and in pursuance of that transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003, they were relieved through order Annex. 2 dated 4. 7. 2003 and according to the petitioners, the impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003 is bad in law as it was passed in violation of Section 24a of the of 1959, just quoted above, inasmuch as, the petitioners could have been transferred in any of the Trust through out Rajasthan, but they could not have been transferred in the Municipal Corporation of the State of Rajasthan and thus, the impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003 is wholly illegal and it is liable to be quashed and set aside and consequently, the order Annex. 2 dated 4. 7. 2003 relieving the petitioners in pursuance of impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003 is also liable to be quashed and set aside. Hence, this writ petition with the prayer as stated above. A reply to the writ petition was filed by the respondents and their case is that the respondents have power to make transfer and as the impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003 was passed in administrative exigencies, therefore, it was rightly passed and the petitioners were rightly relieved through order Annex. 2 dated 4. 7. 2003 in pursuance of impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003. Hence, the writ petition filed by the petitioners be dismissed.

(3.) IN view of this, whether present transfer of the petitioners from Trust to Municipal Corporation vide impugned transfer order dated 3. 7. 2003 can be justified or not.