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The petitioners are all working as Pump Operators under the Kerala Water Authority and they approached this Court, aggrieved by Ext.P4 order of transfer, whereby they have been transfered from the PH Section, Purameri to PH Section, Perambra both within the Vadakara Division of the respondent Water Authority. The writ petition was admitted on 13.04.2012 and there was an interim stay granted, against operation of the transfer order insofar as it related to the petitioners. The stay that was granted initially for a period of one month, was thereafter extended from time to time and continuoes to be in force even today. Effectively, the petitioners have been continuing in the present station, notwithstanding the order of transfer, for over three three years now. It is stated that the 1st petitioner has since retired from service and the 5th petitioner has left the services of the respondent Water Authority. The stay against transfer therefore operates only in favour of petitioners 2 to 4, who are still in the services of the  respondent Water Authority. In the writ petition, the order of transfer is impugned primarily on the ground that, if the petitioners are transferred out of the present station there will be a shortage of staff in the said station. It is also pointed out that in the place of the the petitioners there is no person transferred to the present station. It is also contended that under the respondent Water Authority, there is no practice of transferring Pump Operators except when specifically requested by them. Reference is also made to the averment in Ext.P4 order which states that the transfers are ordered as per the request of the employees to contend that the petitioners themselves had not made any request, and therefore, the transfer ordered in Ext.P4 is based on an erroneous appreciation of facts, and hence, illegal. Lastly, it is contended that there was no administrative exigency that necessitated the transfers that were ordered in Ext.P4.

2. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents wherein it is stated that the petitioners have not been transferred to distant locations and the transfer is within the same division. It is pointed out that the transfer of the petitioners is only  from Purameri to Perambra which is not very far so as to require the petitioners to shift their place of residence to take up the assignment at the transferred location. The averments in the counter affidavit with regard to malafides have been vehemently denied and it is stated that consequent to a shifting of posts of Pump Operators that was necessitated in the respondent Water Authority, the petitioners were displaced to be accommodated in neighbouring offices so as to accommodate persons from outside the district. The averment in the writ petition that there was no administrative exigency is also seen denied in the counter affidavit.