Court No. - 4 Case :- SERVICE BENCH No. - 96 of 2010 Petitioner :- Ashok Kumar Singh S/O Late Amar Dhari Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru Prin. Secy. Forest & Ors. Petitioner Counsel :- A.R. Masoodi Respondent Counsel :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Sunil Ambwani,J.
Hon’ble Dr. Satish Chandra,J.
Heard Shri A.R. Masoodi, learned counsel for the petitioner. Shri
D.K. Upadhyay, Chief Standing Counsel appears for the State
respondents.
The petitioner is serving as Forest Range Officer in the State
Forest Department. By the impugned transfer order dated
18.1.2010 he has been transferred from Barabanki-1, where he
was awaiting posting to Obera Forest Division as Asstt.
Management Unit Officer (Anusravan & Mulyankan), JICA
Pariyojana.
It is contended by Shri A.R. Masoodi that in similar writ petition
this Court passed an order directing the respondents to decide the
representation. He would further submit that since the project is
funded by Japanese Bank for International cooperation (JBIC), the
petitioner has been transferred to a foreign service or in any case
on deputation, without complying with the rules and obtaining his
consent. He submits that since the petitioner is being sent to be
worked in a project run by the society funded by Japanese Bank
for International Cooperation, the transfer cannot be treated to be
simple transfer. The petitioner is being sent on deputation, for
which his consent was required. He has also relied upon the order
passed by the Chief Conservator of Forest dated 30th July, 2008 in
which it was provided that options be invited from Forest Range
Officer, Deputy Forest Ranger and Forester to be posted in the
project.
Learned Standing Counsel has clarified that in the present case the
transfer of the petitioner cannot be treated as deputation. The U.P.
Participatory Forest Management and Poverty Alleviation Project
provides for two different units namely, the Project Management
Unit and the Divisional Management Unit. The Project
Management Unit is managed and supervised by a society, of
which the Governing Body includes Principal Secretary, Forest
and Chief Conservator of Forest as Chairman and Vice Chairman
and other official members including one member nominated by
the non-governmental organisation. The Divisional Management
Unit comprises of the officers of the Forest Department. The
Divisional Management Unit is to be created within the office of
the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO). It is not an extension unit or
subordinate office of PMU and is not registered as autonomous
body. It is a devoted project management office within the UPFD
at the divisional level.
Learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that so far there is
no infrastructure in the project and that the area of operation of the
petitioner’s work has been increased from a range to a division.
From the facts placed on record and the submission made by the
Chief Standing Counsel we find that the petitioner has been
transferred to Divisional Management Unit of the project to be
manned by the officers of the Forest Department. It is a routine
transfer within the cadre in which question of area of operation
and the infrastructure is not a ground on which the Court may
interfere. The petitioner has not been sent outside the State Forest
Department or his own cadre.
The State Government has exclusive powers to transfer its officers
as for its own policies, rules and guidelines.
We further find that the petitioner has been posted in an ambitious
project of poverty alleviation in the notified forest areas. The
officers of the State Government should take interest in this
projects, which serve larger public purpose.
The writ petition is dismissed.
Order Date :- 2.2.2010
SP/