Neeraj Kumar Gupta v. State of Uttarakhand

SL. Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar's order with Signatures COURT'S OR JUDGES'S ORDERS

WPSS No. 2274 of 2023 Hon'ble Pankaj Purohit, J.

Mr. Piyush Garg, learned counsel for the petitioner.

¶2Mr. Rejeev Singh Bisht, learned Additional C.S.C.for the State of Uttarakhand/respondent nos.1&2.

¶3Mr. B.M. Pingal, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 3 & 4.

¶4Ms. Seema Sah, learned counsel for the respondent no.5.

¶5By means of this writ petition, petitioner has challenged the transfer order dated 11.12.2023 (Annexure No.9 to the writ petition) passed by the Managing Director, State Cooperative Bank, Head Office, Haldwani, whereby, he has been transferred from Tilak Road, Dehradun Branch of the said bank to Gopeshwar Branch.

¶6It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is Clerk-cum-Cashier with the respondent-Cooperative Bank. Vide order dated

06.11.2023 passed by the Managing Director, the petitioner was transferred from Dehradun to Gopeshwar, but, subsequently, a representation has been made by the petitioner saying that his father has expired on 31.07.2023 and his wife and daughter are not keeping a good health. His transfer order was cancelled vide order dated 18.11.2023. Thereafter again, he was transferred by the impugned order.

¶7It is stated by the learned counsel for the petitioner that it's a case of successive transfer of the petitioner and he has been transferred six times during a period of six years.

¶8Per contra, learned counsel appearing for the respondent nos.3&4, on instruction, submitted that the petitioner has been transferred as on stop gap arrangement only for the reason that three employees namely Anish Singh-Assistant/In-charge Branch Manager, Sh. Harish Rawat-Assistant and Sh.

Dhirendra Singh Negi-Assistant were, prima-facie, found guilty of financial irregularities and they have been attached to Head Office of the Cooperative Bank, Haldwani with immediate effect and it is only for the reason to administer the routine work of the Branch of the Cooperative Bank at Gopeshwar, 03 persons, by stop gap arrangement, have been transferred by the order of the Managing Director of the respondents. Sh. Tarun Sharma-Manager, Sh. Neeraj Gupta-Assistant (petitioner) and Sh. Pradeep Chamoli-Associate, were transferred to Gopeshwar Branch of Cooperative Bank.

¶9It is submitted by learned counsel for the respondent nos.3&4 that Sh. Tarun Sharma and Sh. Pradeep Chamoli have already been joined at Gopeshwar Branch, while the petitioner-Neeraj Gupta is on leave.

¶10On his successive transfer, it is submitted by learned counsel for the respondent nos.3&4 that he was transferred on promotion.

¶11Having considered the rival contentions of the parties and having gone through the instruction submitted by learned counsel for the respondent nos.3&4, which is taken on record, this Court is of the view that the transfer, which has been done by the respondents, is a stop gap arrangement only to facilitate the working of the Branch at Gopeshwar, as 03 employees from that Branch were placed under suspension and attached to the Head Office, Haldwani Branch of Cooperative Bank.

¶12In this view of the matter, I do not find any merit in the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and being devoid of merit, writ petition fails.

¶13Accordingly, writ petition is dismissed in limine.

¶14Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of accordingly.

(Pankaj Purohit, J.)

20.12.2023 PN