Jodhpur, 05 February (HS): The Rajasthan High Court said in an order that the removal of the ban on transfers by the state government cannot mean a license to transfer in violation of the provisions of the law.

Advocate Yashpal Khileri, on behalf of petitioner doctor Dr. Tejpal Singh Bhakar, resident of Chitalwana, Jalore, filed a writ petition and said that the petitioner, who has been working in the medical department for the last 12 years, was posted as Block Chief Medical Officer, Barmer on 16 March 2024 and since then he has been giving his satisfactory services. But to adjust the junior doctor and due to political interference, he was transferred to the hospital located in Shiv in Barmer district, which order was passed by the Joint Secretary without jurisdiction. The State Government has given the powers to the Zila Parishad Establishment Committee to manage such transfers to ensure that the functional integrity of the local government body is maintained. The transfer order of 15 January was challenged in a writ petition.

The reply from the State Government revealed that the Chief Secretary of the State lifted the ban on transfers for a limited period of two weeks and the urgency of transferring the doctors could not be followed as required by the rules and previous judicial decisions. On which the Single Bench of the High Court made a harsh comment and said that the removal of the ban on transfers by the Chief Secretary of the State cannot mean giving a license to violate the provisions of the law and if such arguments are accepted then the result will be that the officers of the State Government (Joint Secretary of the Medical Department in the present case) enjoy the privilege of immunity from the implementation of the provisions of the law, the result of which will be dangerous. In such a situation, removal of the ban on transfers cannot at all mean a license to violate the legal provisions.

During the final hearing of the case, the petitioner's advocate Yashpal Khileri told that the petitioner has been transferred four times in the last 11 months and he is being harassed for political reasons. According to the reply of the state government, the consent taken for transfer by an incompetent officer during the grace period in transfers, going against the provisions of the law, is also unimportant.

Looking at the facts and circumstances of the case and agreeing with the arguments of the petitioner's advocate, the Rajasthan High Court single bench, while giving the decision, gave an important order to cancel the transfer order of the petitioner and provided that the transfer order should be issued by the competent officer only by reading the legal provisions in a harmonious manner. The Joint Secretary of the Medical Department is not competent for inter-district transfer, hence the prior consent taken by him from the Panchayati Raj Department for transfer is unimportant.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar