IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.11352 of 2008 RAI BAHADUR PRASAD SINHA Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS ----------- 2. 31.07.2008 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and the State. The petitioner is aggrieved by his order of transfer dated 2.6.2008. The ground of attack is that the petitioner is an employee of the Health Department and, therefore, the District Magistrate is not competent to transfer. That the order of transfer has been issued on 2.6.2008 when the compliance has to be done by 30th of May, 2008 making it impossible for the petitioner to comply. It is, however, fairly acknowledged that the petitioner has been transferred from one place to another in the same district and that he has completed five years at the place of posting from where he has been transferred. Fallacy in the submission of the petitioner with regard to the lack of jurisdiction in the District Magistrate to transfer him lies in fact that the petitioner has been sent on deputation from the Health Department to the State Health Committee under the District Health Committee which is presided over by the District Magistrate as Chairman. The impugned order has been issued by the District Magistrate as Chairman of the Committee. The District Magistrate in that capacity as a controlling authority transferred and posted the petitioner in the same district under the District Health Committee itself. Had the petitioner been transferred as an employee of the Health Department the matter would have been different. To that extent, this - 2 - Court finds no merit in the writ application. In so far as the last submission with regard to the date of joining is concerned, on facts this Court is satisfied that the petitioner shall be entitled to a reasonable time to join. This Court considers it appropriate to grant time till 15th of august, 2008 expecting that he shall report for duty at the transferred place on 16th of August, 2008. The writ application stands disposed. AKS/ (Navin Sinha, J.)