Prasanta Kumar Sahoo v. Union of India
Case brief
What is this about?
Service-law transfer challenge: Prasanta Kumar Sahoo (petitioner; Sr. Adv. B.S. Tripathy) versus Union of India and others (O.P.No.1: G.K. Nayak, CGC; O.P.Nos.2 to 4: Nihal Rath) - High Court of Orissa at Cuttack, W.P.(C) No. 7371 of 2025, coram Justice S.K. Sahoo and Justice S.S. Mishra, order dated 08.08.2025. Challenges the Central Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack Bench order dated 04.03.2025 dismissing O.A. No. 260/00678 of 2024, which sought quashing of the petitioner's transfer dated 14.11.2024 from Head Clerk/Assistant, ESI Corporation, Odisha Region to Branch Office, Jaykaypur, Rayagada, plus TA/DA and joining-time prayers. Malafide alleged; counter affidavit invoked departmental transfer policy and administrative exigency; representation rejected; salary paid per Tribunal interim order; petitioner later joined new station; Regional Director not arrayed as party. Reliance on Supreme Court precedents: Shilpi Bose (1991 Sup (2) SCC 659), Gobardhan Lal (AIR 2004 SC 2165), S.L. Abbas ((1993) 4 SCC 357), Nausad Rahaman (2022 (4) SCALE 626) and others. Finding: no malafide, no statutory-rule violation, no illegality; petition dismissed as devoid of merit. Keywords: judicial review of transfer orders; incident of service; malafide; administrative exigency; transfer policy; interim order; TA/DA and joining time.