Implement transfer policy in letter and spirit: HC to HP govt

The HP High Court has directed the state government to ensure implementation of transfer policy in letter and spirit so that no scope of complaint of bias or discrimination is left to be made by the employees.

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The court passed this order on a bunch of petitions filed by the forest guards alleging therein that they are posted at Pangi Forest Division, Circle Chamba. After their having completed normal tenure of posting in hard/tribal area, they made representation to the competent authority for their transfer from hard/tribal area to the stations of their choice, but Conservator of Forests, Chamba, Forest Circle, Chamba, rejected the same on February 22, 2025 on the ground that request for transfer made by the petitioners cannot be accepted on account of huge shortfall of front line staff in Pangi Forest Division, Circle Chamba.

While allowing the petitions, Justice Sandeep Sharma directed the forest department to consider the representation of the petitioner in the light of transfer policy of the state.

Relying on the provisions of the transfer policy, Justice Sandeep Sharma observed that “perusal of Clauses 12, 15 and 16.1 of the transfer policy clearly reveals that an employee after his/her having completed normal tenure of posting i.e. two winters and three summers in tribal area, is entitled to be considered for posting in a soft area or station of his/her choice. Most importantly, norms as taken note hereinabove nowhere suggest that the claim of the petitioners for transfer from tribal area to station of choice or to a soft area is to be considered only against vacancy.”

During the course of hearing the counsel for the state placed on record a communication informing therein the strength of Forest Guard in Chamba Forest Circle.

After perusing the same the court observed that “careful perusal of aforesaid communication as well as information annexed therewith suggests that there are as many as 193 Forest Guards posted in Forest Circle Chamba, out of which 79 have not served the hard/tribal area till date. Since transfer policy formulated by the government itself provides that an employee working under the government shall serve the tribal/hard area once in his service career, coupled with the fact that there are 79 Forest Guards in Forest Circle Chamba, who have not served hard/tribal area, this court is persuaded to agree with the petitioners that the reason assigned in the impugned rejection order for not accepting the representations of the petitioners for their transfer from hard area to soft area is wholly untenable.”