Delhi. We find force in the submission of the learned Senior Government Pleader that a reading of Annexure-A8 only shows that in respect of all officers to be posted to the office of the Resident Commissioner, a panel of willing candidates, will be prepared and the transfer will normally be effected from that list. Though the learned counsel for the applicant would vehemently contend that Annexure-A8 applies to the Law Wing, we are unable to accept this contention in view of the fact that the Law Wing is treated as separate and distinct from the office and establishment of the Resident Commissioner and is directly administered by the Law Secretary. That apart, even if we were to hold that Annexure-A8 applies to the Law Wing, and even if we were to hold that the stipulation therein has been violated, we feel that in cases of transfer such instructions/guidelines can only be treated as directory and not mandatory in any sense of the term. Even in the face of such stipulations as in Annexure-A8, the Government may, for good and sufficient reason and in the public interest, transfer an officer even without obtaining his willingness. The powers of Courts and Tribunals adjudicating upon the correctness or otherwise of orders of transfer made by a competent authority fall in a very narrow compass and clearly, orders of transfer will be interfered with only if there are malafides or other legal infirmities of a serious nature which would warrant the interference with such an order.
