IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANTONY DOMINIC FRIDAY, THE 28TH MAY 2010 / 7TH JYAISHTA 1932 WP(C).No. 14259 of 2010(F) ---------------------------------------- PETITIONER(S): ------------------------ BLESSY JOSE, FIELD OFFICER, FIELD STATION, ARAYANKAVU, KULAYITTIKKARA.P.O., ERNAKULAM DISTRICT. BY ADV. SMT.S.KARTHIKA, SRI.M.S.UNNIKRISHNAN, SRI.M.R.ANISON, SMT.K.P.GEETHA MANI, SRI.P.N.APPUKUTTAN, SMT.P.A.RINUSA. RESPONDENT(S): -------------------------- 1. THE RUBBER BOARD, REPRESENTED BY ITS CHAIRMAN, P.B.NO.1122, SUB JAIL ROAD, KOTTAYAM-02. 2. THE DEPUTY RUBBER PRODUCTION COMMISSIONER, RUBBER BOARD REGIONAL OFFICE, IIND FLOOR, ASWATHY, BUILDING NO.39/786 B, IYYATTU JUNCTION, CHITTOOR ROAD, COCHIN-682 011. R1 & R2 BY ADV. SRI.MATHEWS K.UTHUPPACHAN,SC, RUBBER BOARD, SRI.TERRY V.JAMES , SRI.B.J.JOHN PRAKASH. THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 28/05/2010, ALONG WITH WPC NO. 14438 OF 2010 AND WPC NO. 14669 OF 2010, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: rs. ANTONY DOMINIC, J. ================ W.P.(C) NOs. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 =============================== Dated this the 28th day of May, 2010 J U D G M E N T Petitioners are Field Officers under the Rubber Board. They are now transferred from Central and Southern Regions of the Board to its northern region in Kerala. It is aggrieved by the transfer that these writ petitions are filed. 2. The petitioner in WP(C) No.14259/10 is presently working at Aryankavu in Ernakulam District and she has been transferred to Bheemanady in Kasargod District. In so far as WP (C) No.14438/10 is concerned, first petitioner is a trade union and the arguments were concerning the transfer of petitioners 3 to 5. In so far as the 3rd petitioner is concerned, she is transferred from Mulanthuruthy in Ernakulam District to Sreekandapuram in Kannur District.The 4th petitioner presently working in Kulasekharam in Kanyakumari District of Tamilnadu is now posted to Mannarkkad in Palakkad District. The 5th petitioner presently working at Oonukkal in Ernakulam District is now transferred to Chittarikkal in Kasargod District. Similarly the petitioners 1 to 3 in WP(c) No.14669/10 who are presently posted in Palode, Pangode WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :2 : and Vithura in Trivandrum District are now transferred and posted to Perinthalmanna, Pandikad and Wandoor in Malappuram District. The 4th petitioner presently working in Anchal in Kollam District is transferred and posted to Payyavoor in Kannur District. The order of transfer has been produced as Ext.P3 in WP(C) No.14259/10, which show that 29 Field Officers have been transferred in the manner as stated above and out of which 22 are lady Field Officers, among whom 18 are transferred and posted to the northern regions of the Rubber Board. 3. It is contended that transfers have been effected in violation of the guidelines framed by the respondent Board and the Government of India and that the petitioners have been transferred to far away and distant places, where even basic amenities are not available. It is stated that employees having longer service within the Southern and Central region are available for transfer and that excluding them, the petitioners have been identified and transferred by the impugned order. They also contend that vacancies are available in the Central and adjacent areas of north region itself and therefore the petitioners should be considered for posting in those vacancies available. It is WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :3 : stated that the representations made by the petitioners requesting for avoiding them from the general transfer as ordered by Ext.P3 referred to above are not considered, and that in the meanwhile, they are forced to go to distant places leaving behind them family including young and school going children. 4. On the other hand, the case of the Rubber Board is that the transfer is in the exigencies of service. It is stated that, there are about 160 Field Officers, of whom, about 40% are ladies. It is stated that although the Rubber Board has operations in distant places such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Tripura etc, these places being remote, inaccessible and inhospitable, as a general policy, ladies are not transferred and posted to these places. It is stated that, of late, Rubber Plantation has expanded considerably in the Malabar Region of the Kerala State and Board has made an objective study of the volume of work in its offices in the Malabar Region vis-a-vis, Central and Southern Regions. In the counter affidavit, the number of planting files have been given to explain the volume of work, which are available in the northern regional offices of the Rubber Board. It is stated that since the workload in the Regional Office of Northern WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :4 : Region is much more than that in the office of the Central and Southern parts of Kerala, it was necessary to post some Field Officers from the Central and Southern part of Kerala to Northern Region in the exigencies of service. It is stated that the transfer of the Field Officers was made in the aforesaid background and that it was in public interest and purely on administrative grounds. 5. In the counter affidavit, the details of the lady Field Officers, who have been transferred to Northern Kerala have been given, which is extracted below for reference: a) Smt.L.Sheela: She has been promoted vide Ext.P8 and transferred to Sreekandapuram against the vacancy caused by the transfer of Sri.Joseph Kuriakose who has been working in Sreekandapuram for 3 years. Smt.L.Sheela's declared home station is Trivandrum and she has been working only in Field stations coming under Regional Office, Trivandrum and adjacent Regional Offices in Marthandom and Nedumangad. Out of her total service of 21 years, she has been working in the above Offices for 18 years. Her transfer is in exigency of service. b) Smt.Mercykutty P. John: Her declared home station is Changanacherry. She has a total service of 24 years in the Board. Out of these 24 years, she had been working in various Field Offices under Regional Office, Changanacherry and near by Regional Offices at Kanjirappally and Kottayam for 21 years. So she is transferred to Kongad in exigency of service where there is an existing vacancy of Field Officer. WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :5 : c) Smt.M.R.Jayasree: Her declared home station is Adoor. Out of her total service of 17 years in the Board, she has been working in various Field Offices coming under Regional Office Adoor and nearby Regional Office, Pathanamthitta for 16 years. So she is transferred to Panathur where there is an existing vacancy of Field Officer. This was necessitated to provide the much needed service to the rubber growers of that area. Her transfer is also in exigency of service. d) Smt.Jucy P George: Her declared home station is Changanacherry. Ever since she joined the Rubber Board 16 years ago, she has been working in the various Field Offices under the Regional Office, Changanacherry and Pathanamthitta which is the nearest Regional Office to her home station. So she is transferred to Vellarikundu to fill the vacant post of a Field Officer. This was done in exigency of service. e) Smt.Celin Mathew: Her declared home station is Ernakulam. For the last 13 years, she has been working under various Field Offices under Regional Office, Ernakulam and Moovattupuzha which is the nearest Regional Office to her home station. So she is transferred to Chemperi under Regional Office, Sreekandapuram where there is acute shortage of Field Officers. Her transfer was in public interest only. f) Smt.P.Sindhu: Her declared home station is Adoor. Ever since she joined Rubber Board 16 years ago, she has been working in Field Offices under Kottarakkara and Punalur Regional Offices which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station. So she is transferred to Payyavoor in public interest where there is a vacancy of Field Officer. WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :6 : g) Smt.R.Meenakumari: Her declared home station is Thiruvananthapuram. Ever since she joined the Rubber Board 16 years ago, she has been working in Field Stations under Regional Office, Nedumangad, Punalur and Kottarakkara which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station. So she is transferred to Pandikad under Regional Office Manjeri where there is acute shortage of Extension Officers. Her transfer is in exigency of service. h) Smt.K.M.Sinsa: Her declared home station is Thrissur. Out of her 15 years of service in the Rubber Board, she has been working in Field Offices under Regional Offices Thrissur and Palakkad which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station for 12 years. Her transfer to Thiruvazhiyode under RO Mannarkkad is to fill a position which has been lying vacant for long. Her transfer is in exigency of service. i) Smt.S.Ajitha: Her declared home station is Trivandrum. Ever since she was promoted as Jr.Field Officer in 1995 ie. 15 years ago, she has been working in Field Offices under Regional Offices, Trivandrum, Kottarakkara and Adoor which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station. She is now transferred to Nattukal under RO Mannarkkad to fill the vacant post of Field Officer in that Office. j) Smt.Lalcy Kuruvilla: Her declared home station is Kottayam. For the last 16 years, she has been working in field Offices under Regional Offices, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta Changanacherry and Pala which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station. She is now transferred to Naduvil under Regional Office, Sreekandapuram where there is a acute shortage of extension Officer, in exigency of service. This transfer is in public interest only. WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :7 : k) Smt.Aruna George: Her declared home station is Trivandrum. Ever since she joined the Rubber Board 14 years ago, she has been working in various Field Offices under Regional Offices, Trivandrum, Nedumangad, Kottarakkara and Marthandom which are the Regional Offices near to her home station. She is now transferred to Alanalloor to fill the vacancy of a Field Officer, in exigency of service. l) Smt.Kavitha J Nair: Her declared home station is Kothamangalam. Out of her total service of 13 years in the Board, she has been working in Field Offices under Regional Offices, Kothamangalam, Ernakulam and Trissur for the last 11 years. The above offices are the nearest to her home station. In exigency of service, she is now transferred to Chittarikkal to fill a post which has been lying vacant for long. Her transfer is in public interest. m) Smt.Priya Varma: Her declared home station is Trivandrum. Ever since she joined the Rubber Board, 12 years ago, she has been working in Field Offices under ROS Trivandrum and Nedumangad which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station. In exigency of service she has been transferred to Wandoor to fill an existing vacancy of Field Officer. This is only in public interest. n) Smt.Blessy Jose: Her declared home station is Ernakulam. Out of her total service of 11 years in the Board, she has been working in various Field Offices under Regional Office, Ernakulam for 9 years. She has now been transferred to Bheemanady to fill the vacant post of a Field Officer in that Office, in public interest and in exigency of service. o) Smt.A.V.Meera: Her declared home WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :8 : station is Trivandrum. Ever since she joined the Rubber Board 11 years ago, she has been working in Field Offices under Regional Officers Marthandom and Nedumangad which are the nearest Regional Offices to her home station. Her transfer to Perinthalmanna is in public interest to fill the vacancy of a Field Officer in that office. 6. Therefore, the endeavour of the Rubber Board is to prove that because of the availability of workload in Northern Kerala, it was necessary for the Board to effect transfer and posting of Field Officers. It is stated that while male field officers are sent to far away places outside the State, females as a matter of policy and to the extend possible, are posted in the regional offices inside the State. In pursuance to the above, when they considered the issue, they identified the officers, who are mentioned in Ext.P3, having longer service in the Central and Southern regions of the Rubber Board, and it was therefore that the officers including the petitioners have been transferred. 7. It is the settled position of law that an order of transfer made in the exigencies of service will not be interfered with in a proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, and that like any other administrative order, a transfer order can be interfered with only in the event an extreme case of arbitrariness WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :9 : or malafide is made out. Since the petitioners are holding transferable posts, it is for the Board to decide in what best manner their services are to be utilised. Pleading show that considering the workload available in Northern Region, the Board decided to post additional Field Officers. This decision is certainly one in public interest and cannot be faulted. On the facts as pleaded, I am satisfied that the transfer was necessitated due to exigencies of services. As far as the malafides is concerned, petitioners have not made out any case of malafides, and therefore, that ground also is not available. As far as the plea of the petitioners that they should be posted to vacancies available in the nearby locations is concerned, it is the case of the Board that considering the volume of work available, they are contemplating merger/abolition of many of the offices. In such a situation, this Court will not be justified in issuing any direction as sought for. 8. Apart from the above, the petitioner in WP(C) No.14259/10 claimed the benefit of Exts.P1 and P2. Ext.P1 is the officer order issued by the Rubber Board way back on 14th of December 1983 and it is stated to be the guidelines governing WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :10 : transfer of employees. Petitioner states that this provides for a normal tenure of three years in a station and that she has not completed the three year tenure in the present station. It is also stated that her husband is an Officer in the Central Excise Department of the Government of India, and therefore, she is entitled to the benefit of Ext.P2 office memorandum issued by the Government of India, which interalia provides that where one spouse belongs to a Central Service and the other spouse belongs to a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) the spouse employed under the PSU may apply to the competent authority and the said authority may post the officer to the Station where the Central Government employee is posted or if there is no post under the PSU in that station, to the station nearest to the station where the other spouse is posted. Petitioner states that her husband is posted in Ernakulam and therefore, she is entitled to have a posting if not at Ernakulam, atleast at a place in and around Ernakulam where Rubber Board has office. 9. First of all, Exts.P1 and P2 at best have the force of guidelines, and therefore, if in the exigencies of service, departure has been made and orders are issued, the said exercise WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :11 : of power does not call for any interference in a proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. In this case, I have already found that the transfer was necessitated fully in the exigencies of service and that no case of mala fides have been made out. In such a situation, even if a departure from Exts.P1 and P2 have been made, that will not vitiate the order that has been issued by an administrative authority. 10. Be that as it may, it is stated that the petitioners have submitted representations to the Chairman of the 1st respondent highlighting their individual grievances. Necessarily therefore, these representations will have to be duly considered and endeavour shall be to redress the grievances to the extent possible. It is directed that if orders have not been passed on the representations duly adverting to the grievances highlighted by the petitioners, the Chairman of the Rubber Board shall consider the individual representations and orders thereon shall be passed. It is also directed that in case any of the petitioners have not filed their representation, it will be open to them to make their representations within ten days from today, in which case, that will also be dealt with. This shall be done, as expeditiously as WPC Nos. 14259, 14438 & 14669 OF 2010 :12 : possible, at any rate within 4 weeks of receipt of a copy of this judgment. In all other respects, the impugned order of transfers are upheld. Writ petitions are disposed of as above. ANTONY DOMINIC, JUDGE Rp