Court No. - 3
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 6647 of 2018 Petitioner :- Ramakant Pandey And 3 Others Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Anil Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Pankaj Mithal,J. Hon'ble Saral Srivastava,J.
Heard Sri Anil Kumar Srivastava, learned counsel for the petitioners and learned Standing counsel for the respondents.
The office order dated 13.2.2018 transfers 35 officers of the Medical Department of the State of U.P., from one place to another including the petitioners.
The aforesaid transfer order has been challenged by the petitioners on the ground that since bye election in two of the parliamentary constituencies of Phoolpur and Gorakhpur were notified, the aforesaid transfer order is in violation of the Model Code of Conduct of the election Commission.
On the last occasion we have given time to the parties to show us the provision or the Model Code of Conduct which prohibits such transfers after the notification of the election/bye elections.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has placed before us the Model Code of Conduct for the guidance of the political parties and the candidates as issued by the Election Commission of India and has placed reliance upon question no. 8. The said question no. 8 and its answer read as under:-
"Question No.8:- Whether Government can make transfer and postings of officials who are related to election work?
Ans. There shall be a total ban on the transfer and posting of all officers/officials directly or indirectly connected with the conduct of the election. If any transfer or posting of an officer is considered necessary, prior approval of the Commission shall be obtained."
The aforesaid query is in relation to transfer and posting of the officials relating to election works. The Election Commission has answered the above query by stating that no transfer and posting of any officer/official directly or indirectly connected with the conduct of election is permissible after the notification of elections and if any posting or transfer is to be made, it has to be done with approval of the Commission.
It clearly reflects that ban on transfer and posting contemplated by the Model Code of Conduct is in respect of officers/officials directly or indirectly connected with the conduct of elections and not with other persons.
Moreover, the answer to the query at serial no. 4 also indicates that the Model Code of Conduct is applicable in respect of district or districts in which the Constituency for the bye election falls and not in the entire State.
Learned Standing counsel has also placed the Model Code of Conduct dated 7.1.2007 specifying the Do's and do'nts prescribed by the Election Commission of India.
The aforesaid Code of Conduct under the Heading Transfer and Posting of officials clearly mentions about the complete ban on the transfer of all officers/officials connected with the conduct of the elections including the specified one's.
The officers/officials of the Health Department are not included in the specified list of officers/officials and are not the persons connected with the Code of the elections. Therefore, the ban on transfers after notification of the elections is not applicable to the officers/officials of the Health Department who are in no way directly or indirectly connected with the conduct of elections.
In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we do not deem it fit to interfere in the matter or to stop the transfer order merely for the reason that the transfer has been made after the notification of the bye elections of the two parliamentary constituencies of the State.
The petition is dismissed.
Order Date :- 26.2.2018 SKS