Transfer when no vacant post available is invalid, says Karnataka HC

Bengaluru, Sep 1: The Karnataka High Court has reiterated that "no transfer must be made except to a vacant post" and reinstated a Municipal officer who was transferred in December last year.

Murthy Halaiah, chief officer of Hanur Town Municipal Council, was transferred on December 23, 2021 but for the next six months, he was not given a posting. However on the same day of his transfer, another officer, Paramashivaiah, was posted to the position served by Halaiah till then, who challenged this in the HC.

When the case was pending, he was given a posting on July 20, 2022 to the Town Municipal Council, Ullal. Halaiah's advocate Pavana Chandra Shetty argued before Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav that as per a Division Bench order in 'M Arun Prasad Vs The Commissioner of Excise' case, it is a settled position in law that a transfer without showing place of posting would suffer from legal malafide. The bench accepted this argument and also noted that the same was reiterated in another case, 'Mahboob Sab Vs State of Karnataka' recently.

Justice Yadav also noted that the Government had issued two circulars in 2017, which stipulate that if any government servant is not given a posting, the reasons must be recorded in writing.

The HC set aside the transfer order of Halaiah and directed him and Paramashivaiah “to be placed in the position prior to the impugned order.” The court also directed the State for "strict compliance with its own circulars as well as directions passed in the earlier HC judgments".