The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Srinagar Bench, has temporarily stayed the transfer orders of two employees of the Jal Shakti (Public Health Engineering) Department, following allegations of “political” victimization and malafide intent.
The tribunal, comprising M.S. Latif, Member (Judicial), and Prasant Kumar, Member (Administrative), issued the order in response to an Original Application (O.A. No. 102 of 2025) filed by Ghulam Rasool Bhat and Nazir Ahmad Dar, both residents of Handwara, Kupwara district.
The applicants, represented by Advocate Umat Syed, challenged their transfer orders issued on 11th February 2025. Ghulam Rasool Bhat, who is set to retire within a year, was transferred from Jal Shakti PHE Division Handwara to PHE Division Kupwara, while Nazir Ahmad Dar, who claims to be suffering from various ailments, was transferred to SSD Tangdar.
The applicants alleged that their transfers were orchestrated at the behest of Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, a former MLA of the National Conference (NC) from Handwara, who has been arrayed as a respondent in the case. According to the applicants, they were targeted for allegedly assisting the People’s Conference in winning the Assembly Elections held in September 2024.
The applicants, in their petition, stated, “Though the applicants were not affiliated with any political party nor had any political ambitions, they were targeted by respondent no. 4 ( Ex-MLA of National Conference Handwara) for helping the People’s Conference.”
They further claimed that the Chief Engineer, acting under the influence of the former MLA, facilitated their transfers.
The tribunal, while acknowledging the limited scope of judicial intervention in transfer matters, noted that courts can interfere if transfers are issued by an incompetent authority or are backed by malafide intent.
Quoting settled law, the tribunal referred to the Supreme Court’s judgments in Union of India v. S.L. Abbas (1993) and State of Haryana & Ors. v. Kashmir Singh (2010), which state that transfers are an exigency of service and employees do not have a vested right to be posted at a place of their choice.
However, the tribunal made an important observation regarding Ghulam Rasool Bhat, who is nearing retirement. “It would have been advisable not to dislodge the applicant at the fag end of his career,” the tribunal stated, adding that “an official who is retiring should more or less be posted near his hometown to facilitate the preparation of pension papers.”
The tribunal disposed of the O.A. with the direction that the official respondents—Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, PHE (Jal Shakti) Department; Chief Engineer, Jal Shakti; and Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti PHE Division Handwara—must consider and dispose of the applicants’ representations within ten days. The tribunal also stayed the implementation of the transfer orders for ten days, until 4th March 2025, and directed the registry to list the case for further information on that date.
Advocate Umat Syed, representing the applicants, argued that her clients had already submitted detailed representations to the competent authority, which were not acted upon. (KDC)
