CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
BANGALORE BENCH, BANGALORE
ORIGINAL APPLICATION NO.144/2010
WEDNESDAY, THIS THE 25th DAY OF AUGUST, 2010
HON'BLE SHRI N.D.RAGAHVAN ….VICE CHAIRMAN
HON'BLE SMT. LEENA MEHENDALE ….MEMBER(A)
Sri
Ajith A.,
S/o
late N. Arjunan,
Aged
about 46 years,
Working
as Pharmacist,
Composite
Hospital,
CRPF,
Yelahanka,
Bangalore. ... Applicant
(By advocate Shri S. Narayan)
Vs.
1.
Union of India,
rep. By Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs – North Block,
New Delhi – 110 001.
2.
Director (Medical)
Directorate General, CRPF,
Medical Branch, Opposite CGHS
Dispensary,, Sector-IV, Pushp Vihar,
New Delhi – 17.
3.
Deputy Inspector General,
Medical, Composite Hospital,
CRPF, Yelahanka,
Bangalore – 560 064.
4.
Mr. Avadesh Kumar Gupta,
Working as Pharmacist,
Composite Hospital, CRPF,
Sindri, Dhanbad,
Jharkhand State – 829 122. ... Respondents
(By Advocate Shri M. Rajakumar,
Addl. Central Govt. Standing
Counsel for R-1 to R-3)
O R D E R
Hon'ble
Smt. Leena Mehendale, Member (A) :
This
case is filed under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985,
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to challenge the order dated
31.3.2010, at Annexure-A2 transferring the applicant from Composite Hospital,
Bengaluru to 108 Bettalion, RAF, CRPF, Vedavyasapuri, Meerut.
2. The applicant is working as a Pharmacist in the Directorate
(Medical) of the CRPF, under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
3. Under the same impugned order, Respondent No.4 is ordered to
be transferred to Bangalore from Sindri, Jharkhand Stage. Both these transfers of the applicant and
Respondent No.4 have been stayed by this Tribunal during the pendency of this
OA.
4. The
learned counsel for the applicant has argued mainly on the following grounds
for setting aside the imugned order:-
(I) It violates para 16 (a) and (b) of the
transfer guidelines dated 21.10.2001 (Annexure-A/3) which reads as under:
16.
All
Transfers and postings will be ordered by Medical Directorate. The following guidelines in connection with
transfer of hospital staff are hereby issued.
However, the consideration of public interest and administrative
requirements and efficiency will prevail over the guidelines mentioned here
under:-
a) The normal tenure of posting in Cgs/Base Hospitals/Trg.
Institutions/Mahila Bn & other duty Bns etc. will in general be 3 years.
However, this tenure may increase/decrease in case of different categories of
personnel depending on the requirement of particular expertise, their
authorisation in limited places and gender requirements aiming at minimum
unnecessary transfers.
b) As far as possible hospital staff in the last 3 years of
service before retirement may be given their choice posting/near home posting.
(II)
Although
the present post of the applicant is abolished by the said office, which
appears to be the reason for transfer, the applicant finds that two new posts
of SI Pharmacist are created as per order dated 11.2.2010 under which the
para-medic staff has been restructured.
Respondent No.4 has been
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brought not against the newly created post of
SI Pharmacist, but, only to the post of Pharmacist which the respondents claim
to have been abolished. Presently, the applicant and Respondent No.4 are
holding the same post and in the sme pay scale and grade. Hence, it is claimed by the applicant that he
should be retained at Bangalore against the post of ASI/Pharmacist till the
completion of his tenure of 3 years at Bangalore.
(III) It is further claimed that looking at the
rush of patients at Yelahanka Composite Hospital, CRPF, Bangalore, the
respondent department should not have abolished the 3 posts of Pharmacist. Had they followed this principle, it would
have given him the chance to complete his tenure of 3 years.
5.
The
learned counsel for the respondents has argued in reply to state that from the
guidelines for transfer, it is clear that the consideration of public interest
and administrative requirements and efficiency would have a higher priority
than the guidelines. It is generally
observed that in effecting many transfers, while efforts are made to accommodate
the requests and convenience of many employees, it is not possible to do so in
respect of each and every employee. In
the present case too, the respondents have done so. Hence, unless a malafide is attached to a
transfer order, the same cannot be called as violative of general guideliens or
arbitrary.
Secondly,
the principles to be followed for restructuring have to depend on many
considerations such as the rush of patients as well as financial and man-power
resources available to the department and many other aspects. Therefore, it is best left to the concerned
department. Under the said
restructuring, as per the guidelines of MHA under their letter dated
11.02.2010, the surplus ASI and Pharmacists posted in 50/100 bedded Composite
CRPF Hospitals have to be transferred to other establishments even without
completing normal tenure.
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Thirdly,
it is contemplated that Respondent No.4 who is at Sl. No.36 in the combined
seniority list is likely to be promoted to the rank of SI Pharmacist in near
future whereas the applicant being at Sl. No.126, not due for promotion for
quite some time in future. Hence, the
respondent department has tried to accommodate two ASI/ Pharmacists against the
restructured post of SI Bangalore, namely those standing at Sl. No.3 and Sl.
No.36 (present Respondent No.4). They
have also tried their best to accommodate the applicant at a static posting
such as Meerut in view of the fact that he had to be transferred out of
Bangalore before his normal tenure of 3 years.
The learned counsel for respondents has rightly cited the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court
reported in 2007 AIR SCW 6708 wherein it has been held that “interference by the
court in transfer order is not normally justifiable as transfer is an incident
of service”.
6.
We agree with the above submissions of the learned
counsel for the respondents and see no reason to interfere with the impugned
transfer order.
7.
The OA is therefore, dismissed with no order as to
costs.
(LEENA
MEHENDALE) (N.D.RAGHAVAN)
MEMBER
(A) VICE
CHAIRMAN
psp.
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