L. Meeteingamba Meetei v. Union of India & Ors

BEFORE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AHANTHEM BIMOL SINGH .... Respondent/s

02.03.2022 [1] Heard Mr. M. Devananda, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. Kh. Samarjit, learned ASG appearing for the respondents. The present writ petition has been filed for granting the following reliefs:- “In the facts and circumstances as stated above, the humble petitioner most respectfully prayed that Your Lordship’s be gracious enough to:- (i) (ii) Admit the writ petition and Issue Rule Nisi calling upon the respondents to show cause as to why a writ/order/direction in the nature of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ/Order/directive (s) should not be issued for quashing and setting aside the Order dated 3/12/2021 (at Annexure-A/14) and Movement Order dated 13/12/2021 (at Annexure-A/15), as the said Orders are issued in violation of the Para. No. 4 (ix) of the Standing Order No. 07/2015, in the facts and circumstance of the present petition; To show cause as to why a Writ in the nature of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ/ order/ directive (s) should not be issued directing the respondents to defer the transfer and posting of the petitioner to 20 Bn Jammu Sector, Jammu & Kashmir by one year, considering the pregnancy and delivery of the petitioner’s wife in view of the Para No. 4 (xvi) (b) of the Standing Order No. 07/2015. (iii) Make the Rule absolute; (iv) To pass any appropriate order or direction (s) which may be appropriate to be passed under such facts and circumstance of the instant case, for the ends of justice. AND IN THE INTERIM WP(C) NO. 960 OF 2021 1 Your Lordship’s may be gracious enough to pass appropriate interim order for staying/suspending Order dated 3/2/2021 (at Annexure-A/14) and the impugned Movement Order dated 13/12/2021 (at Annexure-A/15) till the disposal of the present petition and to allow the petitioner to remain at his present place of posting till the disposal of the present petition, pending disposal of the present Petition, for the ends of justice may call for.” [2] The simple case of the petitioner is that after many round of litigation assailing his transfer and posting, the petitioner ultimately filed a representation dated 02.07.2020 to the DGP CRPF, the Special Director General, NEZ CRPF, the IGP, Manipur and Nagaland Sector, Group Centre CRPF, Langjing, DIG Cent, GC, Imphal and the DIG (Adm.), NEZ requesting the authorities for giving effect to his promotion to the post of HC/GB in any Unit/Battalion under the N.E. Zone situated in Manipur in view of the Covid-19 Pandemic and most importantly, where his wife could continue treatment for secondary fertility by reviewing/cancelling the earlier transfer and posting orders on the ground that the said transfer and posting orders have been issued in violation of the provisions of Para 4(viii) of the Standing Order No. 07/2015 and further requesting to defer his transfer and posting for a period of 1(one) year from the date of receipt of the said representation. [3] When the authorities failed to consider and dispose of the said representation, the petitioner again approached this Court by filing W.P.(C) No. 392 of 2020 for redressing his grievances and the said writ petition was disposed of by this Court on 22.07.2020 by directing the authorities to consider and dispose of the aforesaid representation dated 02.07.2020 submitted by the petitioner within a period of 2 (two) weeks in accordance with law and that till the representation is disposed of, the respondents were WP(C) NO. 960 OF 2021 2 directed not to give effect to the movement order dated 10.07.2020. In compliance with the directions given by this Court, the Deputy Inspector General (Estt.), CRPFissued an order dated 03.12.2021 thereby, rejecting the representation of the petitioner on the ground mentioned in the said order. The operative portion, which is at Para 9 of the said orders,are reproduced hereunder for ready references:- Now that, in compliance with the decision of the Hon'ble “9. Court dated 22/07/2020, the report submitted by the petitioner dated 02/07/2020 was examined in accordance with the transfer policy. This proves that the petitioner has been taking advantage of posting in the home state from the last 7.4 years. In addition to this, according to the representation of the individual dated 02/07/2020, his one year tenure has been completed from 02/07/2020 to 01/07/2021. Therefore, his petition was considered sympathetically but rejected being devoid of merit. Posting/Transfer on promotion of petitioner is now made to new location i.e to 20 Bn/Jammu Sector/Jammu & Kashmir Zone in place of 222 Battalion / Northeast Sector / Northeast Zone. Accordingly, relieve of individual on transfer from Group Centre Imphal to 20 Battalion be ensure.” [4] The only ground raised by Mr. M. Devananda in assailing the said order dated 03.12.2021 is that under the transfer policy of the CRPF as contain in the Standing Order No. 07/15, it is provided at Para 4 (xvi) (viii) that the eligibility condition as laid down in the said Standing Order regarding transfer and posting of the personnel can be relaxed by 1 (one) year in deserving cases by the Sector IGP in the case of infertility, among others.It has been vehemently submitted by Mr. M. Devananda, learned counsel for the petitioner that the authorities are well aware that the petitioner and his wife are suffering from infertility and they are undergoing treatment and that the petitioner has specifically made a representation on 02.07.2020 to the concerned authorities with a request to defer his transfer and posting for a period of 1 (one) year from the date of receipt of the said representation on WP(C) NO. 960 OF 2021 3 the ground of infertility suffered by the petitioner and his wife and as provided under the aforesaid transfer policy. However, the respondents has rejected his well founded representation without any application of mind and in a most casual manner. Accordingly, the learned counsel submitted that the present writ petition deserved to be allowed and the petitioner should avail for staying for one more year in his present place of posting in terms of the transfer policy as mentioned hereinabove. [5] On a bare perusal of the representation dated 02.07.2020 submitted by the petitioner as well as the order dated 03.12.2021 issued by the authorities by which the said representation of the petitioner had been rejected, this Court finds that the petitioner had already enjoyed in his present place of posting for more than 1 (one) year from the date of his representation, i.e., 02.07.2020 and this factum has been taken note of by the authorities while rejecting his representation in the impugned order.It is undoubtedly true that the authorities did not voluntarily allowed the petitioner to continue at his present place of posting for another period of 1 (one) year as requested by the petitioner in his representation and the petitioner had been continuing in present place of posting till today by virtue of interim order passed by this Court, however, the fact still remains that the petitioner had already enjoyed his posting at his present place for more than 1 (one) year as desired by him and ultimately, the petitioner and his wife have also now got a child and the issue of their infertility no longer exist as on today. [6] It is a well settled principle of law and trite to state that transfer and posting is not only an incidence but also an essential condition of service and no employees has a right to claim that he should be allowed to continue WP(C) NO. 960 OF 2021 4 indefinitely at the place of his choice. Having heard the arguments advanced by the counsel for the petitioner and after careful consideration of the pleadings made by the parties, this Court is of the considered view that there is no ground for interfering with the impugned order passed by the authorities and accordingly, the present writ petition fails. [7] Needless to mention here that so far as the grievance of the petitioner with regard to the date of getting his promotion is concerned, it is open to the petitioner to take appropriate steps for redressing his grievances as the said grievances of the petitioner is a fresh cause of action which is not at all related with the issue involved in the present case. In the result, the present writ petition is hereby dismissed. Interim order if any, stands vacated. Lhaineichong JUDGE WP(C) NO. 960 OF 2021 5