Ashok Kumar Jatav vs State of MP

This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed against the order dated 22.07.2020 (Annexure P-1) passed by the respondent No. 2, by which the petitioner has been transferred from Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni, District Shivpuri to Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari, District Shivpuri.

It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is holding the charge of post of Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni District Shivpuri and he was posted there by order dated 25.06.2020 (Annexure P-8) and the said order was executed by the petitioner. However, within a short span of one month, the petitioner has been once again transferred to Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari District Shivpuri in the same capacity and respondent No. 4 has been posted in place of the petitioner. It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that the entire action of the respondent is with solitary intention to accommodate the respondent No. 4 as well as the transfer order of the petitioner is bad being frequent in nature.

Per contra, the petition is vehemently opposed by the counsel for the respondent No. 2. It is submitted by the counsel for the respondent No. 2 that the substantive post of the petitioner is Mandi Inspector and earlier he was holding the current charge of post of Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi Bairad District Shivpuri and by order dated 25.06.2018 (Annexure P-3), he was transferred to Krishi Upaj Mandi Guna District Guna on his substantive post of Mandi Inspector. The said transfer order was executed. Thereafter, by order dated 06.10.2018 (Annexure P-5), the petitioner was transferred to Krishi Upaj Mandi Kailaras District Morena by giving current charge of the post of Secretary. The said order was also duly executed by the petitioner. However, after the posting of a regular Secretary in Krishi Upaj Mandi Kailaras District Morena, the petitioner was transferred to Krishi Upaj Mandi , Magroni District Shivpuri by order dated 25.06.2020 on the current charge of the post of Secretary. It is further submitted that the substantive post of the respondent No. 4 is also Mandi Inspector and he was holding the current charge of the post of Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi , Pichhore, District Shivpuri and after posting of regular Secretary, in Krishi Upaj Mandi , Pichhore, District Shivpuri, there was no vacant post for the respondent No. 4, therefore, by the impugned order dated 22.07.2020, the respondent No. 4 has been posted in place of the petitioner. However, during the course of argument, it was fairly conceded by the counsel for the respondent No. 2 that there is no justifiable reason for the respondent No. 2 to disturb the posting of the petitioner, who was given the current charge of post of Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni District Shivpuri by order dated 25.06.2020 only. However, it is submitted by the counsel for the respondent No. 2 that very soon regular Secretary will be posted in Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari District Shivpuri as well as in Krishi Upaj Mandi , Magroni, District Shivpuri.

Counsel for the respondent No. 4 submitted that respondent No. 4 has executed the transfer order. Merely because a person has been transferred in order to accommodate another person cannot be said to be a mala fide action on the part of respondent and in support of his contention, the counsel for the respondent No. 4 has relied upon the judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Mrs. Shilpi Bose and others Vs. State of Bihar and others reported in AIR 1991 SC 532.

Heard the learned counsel for the parties.

Although it is one of the contention of the petitioner that the impugned order has been issued in order to accommodate respondent No. 4 but it is also the case of the petitioner that the impugned order dated 22.07.2020 is bad in law because it is frequent in nature.

Undisputedly, the substantive post of the petitioner as well as respondent No. 4 is Mandi Inspector and both are holding the current charge of post of Secretary of different Krishi Upaj Mandi. Under these circumstances, when the petitioner was transferred to Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni, District Shivpuri on the current charge of post of Secretary by order dated 25.06.2020, then there was no good reason for respondent No. 2 to immediately transfer him to Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari District Shivpuri within a period of one month. The only submission of the respondent No. 2 is that since the respondent No. 4 was posted as Incharge Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi Pichhore District Shivpuri and after the posting of regular Secretary, there was no vacant post of Secretary, in Krishi Upaj Mandi Picchore District Shivpuri, therefore, it became compulsory for respondent No. 2 to transfer respondent No. 4 to Krishi Upaj Mandi, where the post of Secretary was lying vacant. However, the counsel for the respondents could not point out as to why respondent No. 4 could not have been transferred to Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari District Shivpuri and why he was transferred only to Krishi Uapaj Mandi Magroni District Shivpuri after dislodging the petitioner who was posted in the said Krishi Upaj Mandi only by order dated 25.06.2020. Further more, since, the petitioner was already working as incharge Secretary, Krishi Upaj Mandi, Magroni, Distt. Shivpuri, therefore, it is clear that there was no vacant post of Secretary, in Krishi Upaj Mandi, Magroni, Distt. Shivpuri.

Thus, this Court is of the considered opinion that the order dated 22.07.2020 (Annexure P-1) by which the petitioner has been transferred from Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni District Shivpuri to Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari District Shivpuri as Incharge Secretary suffers from frequent transfer without any reasonable reason. Merely because the impugned order dated 22.07.2020 has been executed, it would not render this petition infructuous. Once this Court has found that the order dated 22.07.2020 (Annexure P-1) is bad in law, then this Court is well within its right to direct the respondents to restore the status quo ante.

Accordingly, this petition is allowed. The order dated 22.07.2020 (Annexure P-1), by which the petitioner was transferred as Incharge Secretary from Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni District Shivpuri to Krishi Upaj Mandi Pohari District Shivpuri is hereby quashed. As a consequence thereof, the order dated 22.07.2020 (Annexure P/2) by which the respondent No. 4 was transferred as Incharge Secretary from Krishi Upaj Mandi Pichhore District Shivpuri to Krishi Upaj Mandi Magroni District Shivpuri is also quashed.

If the charge of post of Secretary has already been taken from the petitioner, then the same shall be handed over to him with immediate effect. Respondent No. 2 shall be free to pass fresh transfer order of respondent No. 4.

So far as the contention of counsel for the respondent No. 2 that very soon they will post the regular Secretary in both the Krishi Upaj Mandi is concerned, it is for the respondent No. 2 to manage the affairs of the Krishi Upaj Mandis functioning in the State of Madhya Pradesh and, therefore, no further observation is required in that regard except by saying that the post of Secretary should be filled up by an incumbent who is holding the substantive post of Secretary.

With the aforesaid observations, this petition is finally disposed of.

No order as to costs.