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The High Court denied a plea from the school principal opposing his or her transfer.: Himachal Pradesh High Court

The High Court of Himachal Pradesh denied a plea from the school principal opposing his or her transfer., is upheld by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh through the learned Judge JUSTICE TARLOK SINGH CHAUHAN andCHANDER BHUSAN BAROWALIA, in the case of Shankar Singh and oth. v. state of Himachal Pradesh andothers (C.W.P. No. 1607 of 2021)

 

Brief facts of the case:

The petitioner Milap Chand worked for the government for quite some time before being elevated to the position of headmaster on 24.04.2018 and being assigned to the government high school in Naila, Tehsil Churah, District Chamba. Petitioner was then assigned to his current position as principal at the government senior secondary school in Dugli, Tehsil Churah, District Chamba on September 29, 2020.

Petitioner has completed normal tenure in hard area, is over the age of 55, and has family compelling circumstances; therefore, he has asked the High Court to direct the state to decide his representations for transfer to a soft area/station and post him at either GSSS Chadhiar, Sub-Tehsil Chadhiar, District Kangra, H.P., or GSSS Dhupkiara, Tehsil Jaisinghpur, District Kangra, H.P.

Petitioner’s attorney Sanjay Jaswal said, “The wife of the petitioner is suffering from hearing impairment and is being treated at Rajiv Gandhi Post Graduate Ayurvedic College and Hospital Paprola, District Kangra, H.P.” Also, the petitioner’s wife has a gallbladder stone and needs surgery, but no one in the family can take care of her because their son works in the private sector in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and their two daughters are also in school.

The petition was reviewed by a bench consisting of Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia, who relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Avinash Nagra vs. Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and others (1997) 2 SCC 534, in which the court addressed the importance of girls’ education and the role of a school’s faculty.

JUDGEMNET:

The judgement referenced an earlier instance of Joga Singh whereby in a similar circumstance the benefits were given as appropriate to the date of appointment and sub sequential benefits were provided. The petitioner originally filed the petition with the relevant tribunal whereby the directive was granted to the Department of Education to assess the matter on merits. However, the Department of Education denied the application on the remark that the present situation is not same as of Joga Singh.

Since the HP State Administrative Tribunal is now defunct; the present appeal is prefered in the court. The court while going through the case on the merits found that the factual matrix of the current case is practically identical as of Joga Singh. Hence, the appeal similarly was approved.

JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY – HARILAKSHMI

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