The Supreme Court has held that a government servant cannot claim an inter-district transfer as a matter of right merely because of separation from family, in a case concerning an Uttar Pradesh primary school teacher who sought a transfer from Bahraich district to Lucknow, where her husband and in-laws live.

Source: LiveLaw

A Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran allowed the appeal filed by the Secretary, Board of Basic Education, Prayagraj, set aside the Allahabad High Court order that had prima facie found contempt in the rejection of the teacher's request, and closed the contempt proceedings, LiveLaw and LawChakra reported on November 2.

“This is a universal problem faced by employees and one cannot, on the mere displacement from the family, claim an inter-district transfer, which in the present case also entails a cadre change; as a matter of right,” the Bench observed. It added: “Every teacher should remember that the educational system is primarily for the students and not to further the career of the teachers or to enable convenient postings to the teachers.”

The case turned on Rule 8(2)(d) of the UP Basic Education (Teachers) (Posting) Rules, 2008, under which applications for inter-district transfer are not entertained for five years, though in special circumstances a woman teacher's application can be considered for transfer to the district of her husband's residence or her in-laws' place. The Court held that the rule is only a relaxation for women employees and cannot be applied in a way that jeopardises students' studies, including where a transfer would result in a shortage of teachers.

The Board had opposed the contempt proceedings on the ground that the teacher was not eligible for the transfer because she had secured marks below the prescribed minimum cut-off. The teacher had pleaded that she lives alone in Bahraich with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. The Court acknowledged the difficulty but held that it cannot by itself found a right to transfer.