THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO W.P.NO.14931 OF 2009 ORDER: The three writ petitioners herein are presently working as Managers with the Food Corporation of India (henceforth referred to as ‘the Corporation’), Southern Zone in the State of Andhra Pradesh. By the impugned order, they have been subjected to a transfer to Karnataka State, which also falls within the Southern Zone. The grievance of the writ petitioners is that very exhaustive and detailed guidelines have been issued for securing total transparency in the matter of affecting transfers of employees. It is pointed out that priority in the matter of transfer should be accorded to those people, who are not moved out of their home State even once or those who have been retained even after securing a promotion in their home State. It was also further pointed out that persons, who have already rendered service in States other than the home State, shall not be disturbed until and unless it was found absolutely necessary to do so. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that these guidelines, which have been formulated by the Corporation, are intended to be followed and they are not intended to be followed in the breach by the Zonal Managers. If the guidelines are to be departed, there should have been weighty reasons. The writ petitioners attempted to show that several persons, who are otherwise qualified for being transferred, have been retained in Andhra Pradesh. Sri B. Anjaneyulu, learned counsel for the Corporation would stoutly resist these statements of fact. He would urge that the guidelines issued by the Corporation are followed invariably by the Zonal Managers and even if, in exceptional circumstances, a departure is made, such a departure is made only for valid and justifiable reasons and such reasons would be discernible from the files and that they are not needed to be disclosed to the individual employees. He also places strong reliance upon the judgment rendered by the Supreme Court in STATE OF U.P. AND OTHERS v. GOBARDHAN LAL[1], wherein at paragraph No. 7, the entire matter has been crystallized in the following words: “ 7. It is too late in the day for any Government servant to contend that once appointed or posted in a particular place or position, he should continue in such place or position as long as he desires. Transfer of an employee is not only an incident inherent in the terms of appointment but also implicit as an essential condition of service in the absence of any specific indication to the contra in the law governing or conditions of service. Unless the order of transfer is shown to be an outcome of a mala fide exercise of power or violative of any statutory provision (an Act or Rule) or passed by an authority not competent to do so, an order of transfer cannot lightly be interfered with as a matter of course or routine for any or every type of grievance sought to be made. Even administrative guidelines for regulating transfers or containing transfer policies at best may afford an opportunity to the officer or servant concerned to approach their higher authorities for redress but cannot have the consequence of depriving or denying the competent authority to transfer a particular officer/servant to any place in public interest and as is found necessitated by exigencies of service as long as the official status is not affected adversely and there is no infraction of any career prospects such as seniority, scale of pay and secured emoluments. This Court has often reiterated that the order of transfer made even in transgression of administrative guidelines cannot also be interfered with, as they do not confer any legally enforceable rights, unless, as noticed supra, shown to be vitiated by mala fides or is made in violation of any statutory provision.” While it is true that the guidelines framed by the Corporation are not enforceable, but at the same time, they are intended to secure absolute transparency and prevent any possible discriminatory attitude by the competent authorities in picking or choosing or subjecting selected employees to transfers. While a transfer of an employee will not result in modification or alteration of the conditions of service, but as a fact, it can be noticed that certain amount of dislocation to the family is likely to be caused. Dislocation to the family is bound to have certain degree of impact upon the functioning and efficiency of the employee concerned. Obviously, keeping these very factors in mind, the guidelines have been worked out in such a manner that the efficiency of the employees is not lost out and consequently, the productivity of the organization is not impacted. However, it would be appropriate that against the impugned orders of transfer, instead of approaching the very same Zonal Manager, the writ petitioners ought to have approached the Chairman and Managing Director of the Food Corporation of India. Therefore, the writ petitioners are directed to submit their detailed representations to the Chairman and Managing Director of the Food Corporation of India, on or before 31st July 2009. The Chairman and Managing Director of the Food Corporation of India will deal with the said representations appropriately and pass orders thereon as expeditiously as possible, at any rate within a period of two months from the date of such representations. However, till such time the representations made by the writ petitioners are disposed of, they shall be continued in the Andhra Pradesh Region, even if they are relieved or deemed to have been relieved. With this, the writ petition stands disposed of at the stage of admission. No costs. -------------------------------- Nooty Ramamohana Rao, J 23rd July 2009 mrk [1] (2004) 11 SCC 402