Priyanka Sarkar Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Priyanka Sarkar Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Appeal disposed of: appellant permitted to make a fresh application for transfer online via the Utsashree Portal, or off-line within seven days if the Portal malfunctions, to be dealt with by the hierarchy of the respondents; Transfer Rules clarified to allow applications on listed medical grounds before five years of service; connected pending application (CAN 1 of 2025) also disposed of; no order as to costs.

Issue for consideration

Whether an application for transfer by a teacher on listed medical grounds can be made before expiry of five years of service. +1 more

Court's answer

An application for transfer on listed medical grounds can be made even before expiry of five years of service, whether the teacher is primary or secondary; the Transfer Rules stand clarified accordingly.

Ratio / Principle

The appeal is disposed of permitting the appellant/petitioner to make an application for transfer online since the Utsashree Portal is open; if the Portal malfunctions, she may apply off-line within seven days, to be dealt with by the hierarchy of the respondents off-line in addition to on-line disposal depending on Portal functioning.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

FMA 1104 of 2025 (Priyanka Sarkar v. State of West Bengal and others; connected I.A. No. CAN 1 of 2025), decided 17.07.2026 by a Division Bench (Rajasekhar Mantha, J. and Rai Chattopadhyay, J.), disposing of an appeal against a Single Bench order dated 22.04.2025 which had found the petitioner's transfer application not solely based on medical grounds and had not applied the decision dated 24.08.2023 in MAT 782 of 2023 (Suvadip Ghorai). Held: it is well settled that an application for transfer on listed medical grounds can be made even before expiry of five years of service, whether the teacher is primary or secondary; the Transfer Rules stand clarified accordingly. The appellant was permitted to apply for transfer online through the Utsashree Portal, or off-line within seven days in the event of Portal disturbance, such application to be dealt with by the hierarchy of the respondents. No order as to costs.

17.07.2026 Court No.13 Item No.16 pk

FMA 1104 of 2025 I.A. No. CAN 1 of 2025

Priyanka Sarkar Vs.

State of West Bengal and others

Mr. Shuvro Prokash Lahiri, Mr. Rajesh Naskar, Mr. Ankan Mondal

… For the Appellant.

Mr. Ratul Biswas, Mr. Kaushik Chowdhury.

… For the WBBPE.

Mr. Avishek Prasad, Ms. Shreyasi Manna

… For the DPSC Malda.

This appeal is directed against an order dated 22.04.2025 passed by a Single Bench of this Court. In the said order the Single Bench found that the petitioner’s application for transfer was not solely based on medical grounds. The petitioner had also expressed difficulty for travelling a distance from her residence to the school. It is essentially in that context the Single Bench did not apply the decision dated 24.08.2023 passed in MAT 782 of 2023 Suvadip Ghorai Vs. State of West Bengal and others.

Learned counsel for the appellant submits that since there is no proper prescribed format for application for transfer by primary teachers, his client had casually mentioned the distance as a ground for transfer. He submits that his client is suffering from

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ailment that are listed under the Transfer Rules and hence could have maintained the application for transfer on medical grounds even before expiry of five years.

Mr. Lahiri, learned advocate for the appellant further submits that his client will complete five years of service after two days from date.

In that view of the matter, this Court is inclined to dispose of FMA 1104 of 2025 permitting the appellant/petitioner to make an application for transfer online since Utsashree Portal is open. In the event, however, there are some disturbances in the functioning of the Portal, the appellant/petitioner may make such application for transfer, off-line within seven days and the same shall be dealt with by hierarchy of the respondents off line, in addition to, on line disposal, depending on functioning of the Portal.

It is now well settled that an application for transfer on listed medical grounds can be made even before expiry of five years of service of a teacher whether primary or secondary. The transfer Rules shall stand clarified accordingly.

With the aforesaid observations, the instant appeal is dispose of. Consequently, connected pending application is also disposed of.

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There will be no order as to costs.

All parties are directed to act on a server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

(Rajasekhar Mantha, J.)

(Rai Chattopadhyay, J.)