‘Established procedure not followed’: MAT reverses mid-term transfer of bureaucrat

In his petition, Sormare also contended that his transfer violated provisions of the Disaster Management Act. Under that Act, he was appointed joint president of the district-level monitoring committee as part of the state government’s efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Through his advocate Avinash S Deshmukh, Sormare argued that his transfer was illegal since provisions of the Disaster Management Act override all local legislation.

The state government’s Chief Presenting Officer M S Mahajan submitted that Sormare was transferred “in view of the seriousness of the pandemic and to take preventive steps for preventing the spread of Covid-19”. The government argued that it had decided to transfer Sormare to Nandurbar as it was less affected by the virus and to protect him from the risk of being contaminated. The government chose to post Borude at Ahmednagar as he is “younger” than and senior to Sormare.

In his order, MAT vice-chairman B P Patil noted neither officer had completed his term at his posting and the state government’s Civil Services Board had neither recorded exceptional circumstances nor written special reasons for transferring them, thereby violating the transfer Act.

Patil also found that not only was Borude elevated to the cadre of Additional Collector several years after Sormare but that he also had significantly lesser administrative experience. “The said orders are issued only to accommodate the respondent no 4 (Borude) in the place of the applicant (Sormare) at Ahmednagar,” Patil observed.