Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:THE Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the transfer of a Government employee upon their request cannot be classified as a transfer in public interest. It further held that an employee cannot claim seniority based on their previous position.
“If a Government employee holding a particular post is transferred on public interest, he carries with him his existing status including seniority to the transferred post. However, if an officer is transferred at his own request, such a transferred employee will have to be accommodated in the transferred post, subject to the claims and status of the other employees at the transferred place, as their interests cannot be varied without there being any public interest in the transfer. Subject to specific provision of the Rules governing the services, such transferees are generally placed at the bottom, below the junior-most employee in the category in the new cadre or department.”, the court observed.
K.C. Devaki, the respondent, was initially appointed as a staff nurse in Karnataka’s Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy in 1979. In 1985, In 1985, she requested a cadre change to a clerical post — First Division Assistant (FDA) — due to chronic bronchitis. A medical board confirmed her condition, and the Government accepted her request.
The Karnataka Government fixed her seniority from 1989 instead of 1979. She challenged this in 2007, arguing her seniority should date back to her original appointment. The Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) and High Court ruled in her favour.
Aggrieved by the High Court’s decision, the State appealed to the Supreme Court. A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra, overruling the HC decision, on March 26 held that since the respondent voluntarily sought the transfer and consented to being placed at the bottom of the new cadre, she cannot claim seniority from her initial appointment date, as this would be unfair to existing employees in the new cadre.
The court noted that the high court and Tribunal erred in signifying request-based transfer as a public interest transfer.
