2026:UHC:2425 SL. No. Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS WPSS/940/2026 Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J 1. Mr. Vinod Tiwari, learned counsel for the petitioner. 2. Mr. G.S. Negi, learned Additional C.S.C. for the State of Uttarakhand. 3. Petitioner claims himself to be State President of Uttaranchal Lok Nirman Vibhag (PWD) Ministerial Association, Dehradun. He is challenging Government Order dated 24.02.2026 in which it is provided that request for mutual transfer by ministerial employees shall be considered as per the provisions of Transfer Act, 2017 and such request shall not be entertained in case of first posting, posting after promotion, transfer on administrative grounds, annual compulsory transfer and transfer made on request. 4. Petitioner contends that the conditions imposed by the impugned Government are unsustainable. 5. This Court do not find any infirmity in the Government Order dated 24.02.2026. Transfer is an incidence of service and every State employee, holding a transferable post, can be transferred as per the conditions of his service. Even though, State Legislature has enacted a Legislation dealing with transfer of State employees, however, State Government can regulate its affairs by issuing Government Order, on aspects, which are not covered by the 2026:UHC:2425 Transfer Act, 2017. There is nothing in the Government Order, which can be said to be violative of the Transfer Act, 2017. 6. A State employee cannot contend that he will serve only at a place of his choice on his first posting after appointment. Similarly, in case of transfer on promotion, the employee concerned has to join duty at the place indicated in the promotion order, and if he has any personal problem, then he can make request for transfer to some other place, after joining duties on the promoted post. 7. Similarly, transfer on administrative ground is made because of complaint or adverse material against a Government Servant, therefore, permitting mutual transfer with some other Government servant in such cases would be counterproductive and defeat the purpose of making transfer on administrative ground. On other aspects, Government Order provides that request for mutual transfer shall be considered, as per the statutory provisions. 8. Learned State Counsel submits that resourceful State employees, who are transferred to remote/hill areas, manage to get themselves transferred to plain areas, like Dehradun, Haridwar, Haldwani, etc. through the device of mutual transfer which adversely affects the functioning in the Department, as posts in hill areas remain vacant, while employees in excess of need are available in plain areas, which causes heart burning to other employees who remain posted in remote/hill areas for long. 2026:UHC:2425 9. This Court finds substance in the submission made by learned State Counsel. Government has to run the administration and for smooth functioning of administration, it is necessary that sufficient number of employees are posted in remote inaccessible places also. 10. The writ petition is, therefore, disposed of by providing that request for mutual transfer shall be examined with circumspection for ensuring that the provision for mutual transfer is not misused. (Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J) 07.04.2026 Aswal NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL Digitally signed by NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=eacc6757ee7881e933ff8934f0747700 5aa85f9802a3a08b08d1369512ea30f3, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=44EB54CBF00B7698CB6F10C2C E3D26F5C22DACF4F4610C1FE58A58531726FB B0, cn=NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL Date: 2026.04.08 07:07:41 -07'00'