IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE SEVENTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE L.NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION Nos. 16894 and 17038 of 2008 W.P.No.16894 of 2008 Between: D.Krishna Kumari, W/o. Sri Venkateswarlu, O/o. Accounts Officer(TR-II), O/o. General Manager Telecom District, BSNL, Ongole, Prakasam District (Now under orders of transfer) ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Chief General Manager, Telecom, Andhra Pradesh Circle, BSNL, Dorsanchar Bhavan,Nampally, Station Road, Hyderabad- 500001. 2 General Manager, Telecom District, BSNL, Ongole, Prakasam District. 3 Divisional Engineer(Admn), O/O.General Manager, Telecom District, BSNL, Ongole, Prakasam District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ or order or direction more in the natur of Writ of Mandamus by declaring letter No.TA/STB/BSNL Tfr.Policy/NE/2007 dated 28-6-2008 issued by the ﬁrst respondent and the consequential transfer orders in letterNo.E.95/Depoly/TOs/2008-09/17 dated 24-7-2008 issued by the third respondent as illegal, arbitrary, without jurisdiction and contrary to the transfer policy issued by the corporate oﬃce, New Delhi in Letter No.6-1/2007-Restg. dated 7-5-2008 and consequentially direct the respondents to continue the petitioner at Ongole. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.V.S.S.S.RAMA RAO Counsel for the Respondents: MR.(SC FOR B.S.N.L) W.P.No.17038 of 2008 Between: N. Seetamma, W/o. Sri N. Narahari Rao, O/o. SDOP-II, Ongole, Prakasam District (Now Under orders of Transfer). ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Chief General Manager, Telecom, Andhra Pradesh Circle, BSNL, Doorsanchar Bhavan, Nampally Station Road, Hyderabad- 500 001. 2 General Manager, Telecom District., BSNL, Ongole, Prakasam District. 3 Divisional Engineer (Admn.), O/o. General Manager, Telecom District, BSNL, Ongole, Prakasam District. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ, or Order or direction more in the nature of Writ of Mandamus by declaring letter No. TA/STB/BSNL Tfr.Policy/NE/2007 dated 28- 6-2008 signed by the ﬁrst respondent and the consequential transfer orders in Letter No. E.95/Depoly/TOs/2008-09/17 dated 24-7-2008 issued by the third respondent as illegal, arbitrary, without jurisdiction and contrary to the transfer policy issued by the corporate oﬃce, New Delhi in Letter No. 6-1/2007/Restg. dated 7-5-2008 and consequentially direct the respondents to continue the petitioner at Ongole. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.V.S.S.S.RAMA RAO Counsel for the Respondents: MR.(SC FOR B.S.N.L) The Court made the following COMMON ORDER: These two writ petitions are ﬁled assailing the transfer order, dated 24.07.2008, in so far as it relates to the petitioners. The petitioners are working as Chief Telephone Supervisor, and Senior Telephone Supervisor, at Ongole. Through the impugned order, they were transferred to Poddali. The petitioners contend that the order of transfer is contrary to the policy enunciated by the Corporate Oﬃce. It is pleaded that Poddali is a tenure station and to such places, an unwilling woman employee cannot be transferred as per Section D of the Transfer Policy, dated 07.05.2008. Certain other grounds were also urged. The learned Standing Counsel for the respondents, on instructions, submits that the petitioners are working at Ongole ever since their appointment and the employees, who were transferred to Poddali in the year 2006 were given a clear assurance, to the eﬀect that they would be shifted on completion of a term of two years. It is pleaded that the suggestion contained in Section D is not absolute and it has to yield to the administrative exigencies. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Standing Counsel for the respondents. The Transfer Policy is formulated by any organization, mostly with a view to ensure objectivity and to protect the employees from indiscriminate shifting before a reasonable term is completed at a place. Viewed from that context, the petitioners cannot have any grievance, inasmuch as they are being transferred after about three decades of stay at Ongole. Further, the distance between Ongole and Poddali is not prohibitive. Apart from being in the same District, both the places are connected by National Highway. Only one section of the employees cannot be subjected to transfer and all have to share the burden of serving favourable as well as unfavourable stations. This Court is not inclined to interfere with the order of transfer. However, having regard to the fact that the petitioners are women employees, the respondents shall consider the feasibility of shifting them to another place after completion of one year term at Poddali. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. ___________________ L.NARASIMHA REDDY,J Dt:07.08.2008 kdl