Allahabad HC upholds the U.P. government’s transfer policy of assistant teachers

The bench comprising justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Ashutosh Srivastava disposed of the writ petition filed by Kul Bhushan Mishra and one other.

The Allahabad high court, while upholding the Uttar Pradesh government’s transfer policy of assistant teachers, has held that the transfers cannot be claimed as a matter of right.

Allahabad HC upholds the U.P. government’s transfer policy of assistant teachers (file)

The bench comprising justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Ashutosh Srivastava disposed of the writ petition filed by Kul Bhushan Mishra and one other.

Giving this judgment, the court upheld that the transfer policy requires, in normal circumstances, a minimum length of service of five years in cadre of male teachers and two years’ service for female teachers before seeking transfer.

Considering the statement made by the Board that online applications for inter-district transfer would be entertained shortly, the court directed that the claim of eligible assistant teachers would be dealt with and that the Board shall open the online portal for mutual transfer, at the earliest possible, preferably within six weeks. The court held that the claim of eligible teachers should be dealt with as per law.

The court observed, “We find no illegality or infirmity in the policy of the state to restrict entertainment of applications for transfer in normal circumstances, unless the teacher has completed specified length of service in the cadre. Even otherwise, this court has already clarified that in exceptional circumstances, minimum period can be waived off, provided the Board is satisfied about existence of exceptional circumstances for transfer like old age of grandparents etc. These considerations otherwise are required to be examined by the Board at the first instance”.

“In the facts of the case, we do not find the policy to be either violating the constitutional parameters or infringing the constitutional values”, added the court.

In the present case, both the petitioners were assistant teachers working in primary institutions run by the district basic education board. Both the petitioners wanted inter district transfer. They had requested the court to direct the state authorities to entertain their application for inter district transfer without imposing the condition of five years’ service in the concerned district.