The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the Centre to appoint a committee to look into formulation of a new set of guidelines to resolve the issue of transfers and posting of DANICS and DANIPS and till then issue necessary instructions to follow the IAS and IPS scheme.
Coming down heavily on the Centre for transferring Delhi’s special commissioner (VAT) Sohan Singh Kanawat, the CAT said in greater public interest it might be appropriate to issue necessary instructions that none from DANICS and DANIPS shall be inducted into the IAS and IPS without undergoing two mandatory spells of outside posting as already provided under the guidelines.
In his order, CAT member Dr KB Suresh said, “We feel that the system is being jeopardized from within. Unless internal fairness is ensured, the resultant insecurity in officials will make them an easy prey to manipulators.”
Kanawat had challenged his transfer order to Andaman and Nicobar Islands on the ground that he was insulin dependent diabetic patient and his wife was under depression. He said he had to look after his 30-year-old daughter, who is yet to be married.
Kanawat’s plea was that the direct recruit officers were required to serve in the outlying segments in two spells — the first one for a minimum period of three years and the second one for a minimum period of two years. He said the number of stints and duration in outlying segments may vary subject to availability of suitable officers. He said the Government had posted him to Andaman on the completion of his training. He said he was to retire in three years and was the only officer who was being sent to Andaman once again.
The Tribunal said the applicant had represented with the authorities about his medical condition, his wife’s problems and his on coming superannuation within another three years’ time and these were not considered by the authorities.
The Tribunal said the non-application of mind before issuing the transfer order with particular reference to the ability or the inability of the transferee to join the new place and the resultant cancellation later was glaring in itself. It said the authorities have not applied their mind to the issue and if 60 per cent of an order was obviously the result of non-application of mind, there was something really wrong.
The order said the applicant had only three years time to retire and going by the guidelines, within a year, he may have to be brought back to Delhi. It said, “The resultant dislocation may not be sufficient enough to warrant one year posting, in light of the fact there are many persons who have not been transferred at all. This is particularly so, as even people who have been found deficient had been allowed to stay in Delhi, in flagrant violation of all principles of propriety.”
The Tribunal said it had no hesitation to hold that the transfer order was permeated and pervaded with legal malice, mala fides, extraneous considerations, illegal, unjust and arbitrary.