NEW DELHI, SEPT 6
In a major relief to government staff on the verge of retirement, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has held that the employees reaching superannuation should not be transferred merely because they had stayed at a particular place for a considerably long time.
The order passed by CAT member N D Dayal came on a petition by three administrative officers of the Health Department transferred from Delhi to Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad respectively with immediate effect.
Even while holding the government’s prerogative to transfer any employee, the order said those on verge of retirement should be treated in a more humane manner, so as to avoid inconvenience to them. Better to let them retire peacefully at the place of posting after years of dedicated service.
All the same, the tribunal noted that the employee cannot stake claim to serve at the same station forever as a matter of right, as “it is well settled that transfer is an incidence of service and ordinarily the court would not interfere because no one can expect to continue at the same station forever.”
Stressing that the long stay of an employee cannot by itself constitute sufficient reason for transfer, the tribunal said the transfer policy be tweaked to enable an employee about to retire after a long and devoted service to help him make arrangements for settling down with his family and acquire a house if not already done.
The department had opposed the officers’ petition on the ground that its decision to transfer them was as per the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission and that those in sensitive posts cannot be allowed to occupy them endlessly.
