Transfer of employees

Hello Friends,

This is my first lecture on a law point relating to Transfers of Employees by the employers.  I hope, I will be able to make out the point to your satisfaction.  In case I get a good feedback, I will continue to deliver various lectures on various other legal aspects, so that you all can be benefitted.

It is well settled principles of law by Hon'ble Apex Court that transferring an employee is a prerogative of employer.  The employer is the best person to see as to who is to be posted or transferred where.  There are no statutory rules framed by any of the employer so far which can give a justiciable cause for any of the employee to come before the court of the law.  However, still, Hon'ble Apex Court has laid down principles under which even the transfers can be challenged.  Those principles are mainly, either the transfer is made illegally, arbitrarily, malafide or in infarction of professed norms.  In this regard Hon'ble Apex Court inN.K. Singh v. Union of India, (1994) 6 SCC 98, at page 108  para 23 has said that “Unless the decision is vitiated by mala fides or infraction of any professed norm or principle governing the transfer, which alone can be scrutinised judicially, there are no judicially manageable standards for scrutinising all transfers and the courts lack the necessary expertise for personnel management of all government departments. This must be left, in public interest, to the departmental heads subject to the limited judicial scrutiny indicated” 

In another decision of Hon'ble Apex Court titled as UOI Vs SL Abbas, it has been held that the transfer policy or Guidelines issued by Government do not confer upon Government employee legally enforceable right.

Nevertheless, in case the transfer if also found to be issued as a measure of punitive measure or or colourable exercise of powers or as an oblique motive, they also fall under the category of illegal or arbitrary transfers and can be challenged.  Frequent and unscheduled transfers also fall under this category and can be challenged before the court of law. 

In the case of malafide transfer, the person against whom factual malafides are alleged has to be arrayed as a party.

I hope, I have been able to conclude the main issues relating to transfers.  I will eagerly wait for your comments and feed back so that future lectures on various points of law can be made better.  Thanking you for giving patient hearing.