The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed a challenge to Haryana’s Model Online Transfer Policy, holding that a transfer is an incident of service, that an employee has no vested right to a posting of choice, and that a transfer policy is only a guideline and is not legally enforceable under Article 226. The Court found the extra marks for ‘couple cases’ where a spouse is posted in Haryana, Chandigarh or Delhi to have a reasonable nexus to the objective, and neither arbitrary nor discriminatory.
At his farewell, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma discussed his judicial transfer to the Calcutta High Court, acknowledging opposition from Kolkata lawyers but expressing no resentment. Bar Council vice-chairman Ved Prakash Sharma emphasized the importance of judicial transfers for independence. Justice Sharma highlighted the judge’s duty to maintain the law’s connection with the people.
