'Denying Inter-Utility Transfers To Lower-Ranking Officials Without Nexus To Relevant Policy Violates Article 14': P&H High Court
The Punjab & Haryana High Court has held that denial of inter-utility transfers only to lower-ranking officials without any rational nexus to the object of the policy is violative of Article 14. The Court observed that such classification between employees is arbitrary where it does not serve the stated objective of the policy.
Justice Harpreet Singh Brar was hearing a batch of writ petitions challenging orders rejecting the requests of employees of UHBVNL and DHBVNL for inter-utility transfers, and the policy dated 07.04.2026 governing such transfers. The petitioners, who were employees of the power utilities, contended that inter-utility transfers had been permitted in the past under executive instructions and even granted in certain cases pursuant to court directions, and that their claims were identical to those cases. The respondents relied on the newly framed policy prohibiting inter-utility transfers and argued that the petitioners had no vested right to seek such transfers.
The Court noted that transfer is an incident of service and ordinarily within the domain of the employer, and that employees do not have a vested right to seek transfer. It further observed that inter-utility transfers between two separate entities stood on an even weaker footing for judicial interference.
The Court then considered the policy dated 07.04.2026, which prohibited inter-utility transfers and also provided that pending applications would stand rejected. It held that in view of the policy, no inter-utility transfers could be permitted except in the limited exceptions provided therein.
However, the Court examined the applicability clause of the policy, which restricted its operation to employees belonging to Groups C and D. It noted that while the stated objective of the policy was to avoid administrative complexities and maintain operational efficiency, the restriction to only certain categories of employees created two classes within the same set of employees.
The Court observed that no intelligible basis was shown for excluding higher-ranking officials from the prohibition, and that such selective application did not bear any rational nexus to the object of the policy. It held that such classification amounted to arbitrary discrimination and was violative of Article 14.
“… denying the opportunity of inter utility transfer, in such strict terms, only to the Group C and D is arbitrary and unreasonable as it bears no rational nexus to the objective of the policy,” the Court observed.
Accordingly, the High Court disposed of the writ petitions by upholding the prohibition on inter-utility transfers, but declared Section 2 of the policy dated 07.04.2026 as violative of Article 14 and directed that the policy be applied uniformly to all employees of UHBVNL and DHBVNL.
Case Title: Jaswinder Singh & Ors. vs. State of Haryana & Ors. and connected matters [CWP-24097-2025 and connected matters]