National Hydroelectric Power ... vs 1.Shri Bhagwan on 11 September, 2001
The High Court while exercising jurisdiction under Articles 226 and
227 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the 'Constitution') had gone
into the question as to whether the transfer was in the interest of public
service. That would essentially require factual adjudication and invariably
depend upon peculiar facts and circumstances of the case concerned. No
government servant or employee of a public undertaking has any legal right
to be posted forever at any one particular place or place of his choice since
transfer of a particular employee appointed to the class or category of
transferable posts from one place to other is not only an incident, but a
condition of service, necessary too in public interest and efficiency in the
public administration. Unless an order of transfer is shown to be an outcome
of mala fide exercise or stated to be in violation of statutory provisions
prohibiting any such transfer, the courts or the tribunals normally cannot
interfere with such orders as a matter of routine, as though they were the
appellate authorities substituting their own decision for that of the
employer/management, as against such orders passed in the interest of
administrative exigencies of the service concerned. This position was
highlighted by this Court in National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd.
v. Shri Bhagwan and Anr. (2001 (8) SCC 574).