Cannot transfer government employee to other department without their consent: High Court of Chattisgarh

1. Pawan Kumar Sarthi S o Late R. Sarthi Aged About Milk Commissioner Integrated Dairy Development Project Raigarh Chhattisgarh 2. Sunil Kumar Shrivastava S o Shri S. N Shrivastava Aged About 53 Years Supervisor Grade­ Ill In The Office Of Deputy Milk Commissioner Integrated Dairy Development Project Jashpur Chhattisgarh 3. Om Prakash Shrivastava S o Late Lakhan In The Office Of Deputy Milk Commissioner Integrated Dairy Development Project Jashpur 4. Rakesh Kumar Sharma S o Ram Kumar Sharma Aged Deputy Milk Commissioner Integrated Dairy Development Project Jashpur Chhattisgarh 1. State Of Chhattisgarh Through­ Secretary Department Of Pashudhan Vikash Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan Mantralaya Naya Raipur 2. Director Directorate Of Animal Husbandry Indravati Bhavan New Raipur Chhattisgarh 3. Deputy Milk Commissioner Integrated Dairy Development Project Raigarh Chhattisgarh 4. Deputy Milk Commissioner Integrated Dairy Development Project Jashpur Chhattisgarh 5. Deputy Director Veterinary Services Bilaspur 6. Deputy Director Veterinary Serevices Balrampur 1. Mr. Neeraj Choubey learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that petitioners are employees of Department of Dairy Development and they are working at the Integrated Dairy Development Project Raigarh and Jashpur but by they have been transferred to the Department of Veterinary Services without taking the consent of dated 15 01 2019 wherein the impugned order of liberty has been granted to the respondent State 3. At this stage it would be appropriate to notice the order dated 15 01 2019 passed in Ashok Kumar Aasrekar in which this Court has held as was passed by the High Court. Many of the petitioners or the employees are at the whether the present dispensation would be interested in sending any of them on deputation outside the cadre to the dated 30.01.2013 stands quashed. The respondent State authorities however are given liberty to take a fresh decision in 4. Accepting the contention of the parties since the to that of Ashok Kumar Aasrekar the instant writ petition is allowed in terms of in Ashok Kumar Asrekar as notice herein­ P­1) is hereby quashed and liberty is granted to in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Ashok Kumar Aasrekar

Summary: A Government employee cannot be transferred to a post outside his cadre or to another department without his consent being taken. A single member bench consisting of Justice Sanjay K Agarwal of the High Court of Chattisgarh dealt with the issue of government employee transfers in the case of Pawan Kumar Sarthi and Others v The State of Chattisgarh and Others [WPS No. 4918 of 2016] on the 10th of June 2021. The petitioners Pawan Kumar Sarthi, Sunil Kumar Shrivastava, Om Prakash Shrivastava and Rakesh Kumar Sharma are all employees of the Department of Dairy Development, Chattisgarh and were working at the Integrated Dairy Development Project, Raigarh and Jashpur. However they were transferred on 29th July 2016 to the Department of Veterinary Services without taking their consent. It was noted that the facts in this case were almost the same to that of Ashok Kumar Aasrekar v State of Chattisgarh [WPS No. 1142/2013] where the court had quashed the impugned transfer order and the state was given the chance to take a fresh decision regarding the petitioners in accordance with law. The court also brought up that since much time had passed since the petitioner had been filed, many of the employees were nearing their retirement age and that would also be taken into consideration in the decision that the state was to make. As a result of this, the impugned transfer order in question was quashed as it violated the rights of the government employees who were transferred to another department without their preference being taken into consideration by the state and similarly, the state was given the liberty to take a new decision in the regard.