IPS officer seeks transfer to home state: HC says possible

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has said that the request of an IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre seeking transfer to her home state of Karnataka can be considered by the Union Government.

Though the Government contended that policy did not permit such transfers, the HC noted that the Government had permitted inter-state cadre transfer to the home state earlier.

“So far as policy is concerned, as the Central Government has permitted inter-state cadre transfer to the home state, in our opinion, petitioner’s application deserves to be considered on merits,” Justice PS Dinesh Kumar and Justice TG Shivashankare Gowda said in their judgement recently.

The petition was filed by N Chaitra, IPS officer who is currently the Depty Inspector General of Police, Madhya Pradesh.

Her request for change of category to home state Karnataka was rejected by the Central Government on October 14, 2020. She challenged it before the Central Administrative Tribunal was also dismissed after which she approached the HC.

Her counsel argued that her request was rejected on two grounds. First, the medical report of her parents was not attached and secondly that the transfer was a policy matter. The IPS officer had claimed that the health condition of her parents demanded that she be close to them.

The Central Government advocate submitted that the medical documents were not submitted by the IPS officer. Chaitra’s counsel sought the Court’s permission to resubmit her request along with the relevant medical documents.

He also contended that the Central Government had transferred officers belonging to IAS to home states on four occasions earlier. Some of them were on their own and in other cases due to orders passed by the CAT or the High Courts.

The HC in its recent judgement said that as for the first aspect of non-submission of relevant records, “In our view, petitioner can be given one more opportunity to produce the medical records.”

Second, since the inter-state cadre transfer was allowed in earlier occasions, Chaitra’s application deserves to be considered on merits. Disposing the petition, the HC said, “Petitioner may submit a fresh application along with necessary papers to the respondents. If such an application is made, the same shall be considered by the Central Government within four months from the date of receipt of the application.” (WP 25574/2022)