MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently observed that government officials should not be transferred merely due to complaints against them or protests by some employees or employee associations without conducting a comprehensive inquiry.
Justice Battu Devanand made the observation while quashing the transfer order passed against a superintendent G Neelanarayanan by the school education department owing to complaints made by Tamil Nadu Elementary Education School Federation that he did not maintain a smooth relationship with teachers.
The government advocate contended that aggrieved teachers conducted protests against the petitioner and that he was transferred in order to maintain smooth administration. However, the petitioner claimed that as part of his duties, he had informed the department about wrong fixation of salary of some teachers and the affected teachers filed complaints against him.
Justice Devanand observed that the power to transfer should be exercised fairly and should not be misused to harass employees. He also opined that complaints of the employees associations or protests conducted by them should not be a ground for transferring government officials without examining the entire issue comprehensively. If such type of practices are allowed, no government employee can serve with sincerity, honesty and commitment, he added.