Meghalaya High Court dismisses plea by woman employee of Military Engineering Service against transfer on account of having minor children

The Meghalaya High Court on Monday dismissed a plea by an officer (appellant) of the Military Engineering Services who had resisted a transfer order on the ground that she was a mother who had two minor children to take care of. [Reena Sohphoh vs Union of India and ors].A bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh dismissed plea after noting that the appellant always knew that her job was a transferrable one.The Court further noted that the rules governing Military Engineer Services did not allow the relaxation sought by the appellant.."This is a desperate attempt by an employee in the Military Engineer Services to resist an order of transfer on the specious ground that she has two minor children aged about 6 and 4, respectively ... It does not appear from the rules governing the petitioner’s service that there is any latitude given to an employee for resisting transfer on the ground of being the mother of minor children", the Court said..The High Court also noted that as per the settled law, routine transfers necessary for administrative purposes should not be interfered with by courts. "Indeed, it is only in a rare case where malice in fact is made out and serious prejudice is demonstrated that the Court even entertains a plea to arrest or impede transfer. Since the petitioner has made out no cogent grounds to resist the order of transfer and the petitioner was always aware that her job was transferable, there is no merit in the petition," the Court held. .Therefore, it dismissed an appeal filed by the appellant against an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) which had upheld the transfer order. .The appellant before the High Court had submitted that her representation to her employer was in the nature of a mercy plea given that her husband has to travel regularly. She sought that that the transfer be deferred by two years since, by then, she would be more confident to leave her kids behind and accept any posting. On May 12 this year, the CAT rejected her application, leading to an present appeal before the High Court. .Senior Advocate K Pau with advocates S Thapa, R Dutta, and S Chanda represented the petitioner. Deputy Solicitor General of India Dr N Mozika with advocate A Pradhan appeared for the Union government..[Read Judgment]