Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the 21 Police Inspectors from Mumbai city, who had got a stay on their transfers out of city from Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) following Election Commission (EC) guidelines for impending state assembly elections, to forthwith join their transferred posts.
The HC was hearing an appeal by the State government challenging the October 23 MAT order granting interim stay to the transfers of 22 Police Inspectors.
A vacation bench of Justices Sandeep Marne and Manjusha Deshpande, on Wednesday, clarified that the act of 21 police inspectors joining transferred posts “shall not come in the way of prosecuting their applications before MAT”.
The HC has also kept all rights and contentions of both the sides open to be decided at the time of final hearing of the applications before MAT. “It is also clarified that act of Original Applicants of joining posts of their transfer shall not come in their way of prosecuting the Original Applications,” a vacation bench of Justices Sandeep Marne and Manjusha Deshpande said.
The appeal, filed through State Additional Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP), claimed that the MAT had erred in granting interim relief to the 21 officers based on their personal difficulties and the same can not have override the public interest.
On October 23, MAT chairperson Mridula Bhatkar stayed their transfers on grounds of genuine domestic difficulties, various ailments of family members, physical difficulties and those whose children are studying in Class 10 and 12, who would otherwise face hardship.
As far as relief to one of the PIs, who had got stay on transfer due to a closed relative suffering cancer, the HC said that he shall make an application for his retention before the Police Establishment Board-2 by October 31 and same shall be decided by the said competent authority it within four working days.
“Till the decision on his representation, he shall be retained at the current posting. However, if his application is rejected, he shall join the transferred place,” the bench said.
Advocates for the 21 PIs made a statement, the HC said: “Accordingly, 21 PIs, whose names are reflected in para 25 (K) of MAT order shall forthwith report to their transferred places.”
MAT, on October 23, while granting relief to 22 PIs, had directed other 90 police officers to report at their respective headquarters of transferred postings on October 26. The MAT had, however, allowed these officers to retain their service quarters till their pleas before it were finally decided.
The police officers had challenged the October 4 orders of Mumbai Police ordering their transfers as per EC guidelines. The EC rules provide that any officer who has served in the same district for three out of four years should be transferred out so that they don’t exert any influence in the polling process. The PIs contended that many PIs who had completed three years in the Commissionerate were not transferred and the state government had adopted ‘pick and choose policy’ while issuing the October 4 transfer order.