HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD WRIT - A No. - 14887 of 2026 Court No. - 52 HON'BLE MRS. MANJU RANI CHAUHAN, J. 1. Learned counsel for the petitioner has filed supplementary affidavit in the Court today, which is taken on record. Office is directed to register the same. 2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the State, Mr. Harsh Vardhan Gupta, learned counsel for respondent nos.3 and 4 as well as Mr. Adarsh Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant. 3. The instant writ petition has been filed with the following prayers: "i) to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 27.08.2026 passed by respondent no.4 District Basic Education Officer, Hapur; ii) to issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the iii) issue a writ, order or direction as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of the case. iv) Award the cost of the writ petition in favour of the petitioner." 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that a complaint was made on 29.12.2025 by one Assistant Teacher, namely, Pooja Sharma against the petitioner who was working as Headmaster in the institution in question where she is working as Assistant Teacher, with the allegations regarding behaviour of the petitioner, asking to send personal message for Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Alok Kumar Gupta, Arun Kumar Srivastava Counsel for Respondent(s) : Adarsh Singh, C.S.C., Harsh Vardhan Gupta Deepak Agrawal .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. And 3 Others .....Respondent(s) taking leave, stalking the concerned teacher and sexual harassment before the District Magistrate, District-Hapur. He further submits that the concerned District Magistrate on the aforesaid complaint dated 29.12.2025 itself as annexed on on page no.16 of the writ petition, mentioned the following: "Issue appears to be of a serious nature, fit to be examined by ICC framed under POSH rules. Conduct a thorough inquiry & provide ATR." 5. On the aforesaid, a Committee was constituted, which has submitted a report on 19.08.2026, concluding that no allegations as made by the concerned Assistant Teacher are proved, however, on the another application moved on the portal before the Hon'ble Chief Minister, the same was placed before respondent no.1-Addl. Chief Secretary, Basic Education U.P., Lucknow on whose instance, the impugned order dated 27.08.2026 has been passed, transferring the petitioner to Composite Vidyalaya Nyaazpur Khyaa, Vikas Kshetra Simbhaoli, Hapur. Learned counsel for the petitioner further contends that in the inquiry as conducted by the concerned department also, the charges as levelled by the concerned teacher have not been proved. The transfer order has been passed at the dictates of respondent no.1-Addl. Chief Secretary, Basic Education U.P., Lucknow, who does not have any jurisdiction to dictate about the aforesaid to the concerned District Basic Education Officer who is the competent authority to look into the transfer of the petitioner after any such application is moved online. Thus, the order impugned has been passed without independent application of mind. 6. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed order dated 17.04.2026 as Annexure No.1 to the supplementary affidavit filed today. The said order has been passed by the Regional Assistant Director of Education (Basic), First Region, Meerut stating that the transfer of any teacher can be done only on the basis of online process on the administrative side. The aforesaid has been reiterated by the concerned District Basic Education Officer by his order dated 13.04.2026. Despite the aforesaid, the transfer order has been passed, which is in violation of the orders passed by the District Basic Education Officer as well as the Regional Assistant Director of Education (Basic), First Region, Meerut, therefore, the WRIA No. 14887 of 2026 2 impugned order is arbitrary and bad in the eyes of law; hence, liable to be set-aside. 7. Learned counsel for respondent-BSA on the other hand submits that as per the provisions contained in Section 12(1)(a) of The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 during the pendency of any application regarding sexual harassment is moved, either the complainant or the person against whom the complaint is made, may be shifted to some other place so that the inquiry conducted on such complaint is fair and impartial. He further contends that in the present case, the Committee constituted prior to coming to the conclusion that the petitioner is innocent has also observed the following: "उपलब्ध मौिखक एवं दस्तावेजी साक्ष्यों के आधार पर कायर्स्थल पर लैंिगक उत्पीड़न अिधिनयम, 2013 की धारा 2(ड) के अंतगर्त यौन उत्पीड़न का आरोप संदेह से परे प्रमािणत नहीं होता है। अिपतु िवद्यालय में प्रशासिनक एवं पारस्पिरक संबंधों में गंभीर तनाव, संचार की कमी तथा अवकाश प्रबंधन संबंधी िववाद पिरलिक्षत होते हैं। 01. िशकायतकतार् द्वारा उठाए गए अवकाश स्वीकृ ित, वेतन अवरोधन तथा व्यिक्तगत संदेश भेजने के संबंध में लगाए गए आरोपों की पृथक प्रशासिनक जांच सक्षम अिधकारी द्वारा कराई जाए। 02. भिवष्य में िकसी भी कमर्चारी को अवकाश स्वीकृ ित हेतु व्यिक्तगत व्हाट्सएप संदेश अथवा कॉल करने के िलए बाध्य न िकया जाए तथा मानव सम्पदा पोटर्ल एवं अिधकृ त समूहों के माध्यम से ही कायर्वाही सुिनिश्चत की जाए। 03. िवद्यालय में कायर्रत समस्त िशक्षकों एवं कमर्चािरयों को कायर्स्थल पर मिहलाओं के प्रित सम्मानजनक व्यवहार तथा मिहलाओं का कायर्स्थल पर लैंिगक उत्पीड़न (िनवारण, प्रितषेध और प्रिततोष) अिधिनयम, 2013 के प्रावधानों के संबंध में संवेदनशीलता प्रिशक्षण प्रदान िकया जाए। 04. िवद्यालय में उत्पन्न आपसी िववादों एवं गुटबाजी को समाप्त करने हेतु खंड िशक्षा अिधकारी द्वारा समम- समय पर िनरीक्षण एवं परामशर् बैठक आयोिजत की जाए। 05. िशकायतकतार् एवं प्रधानाध्यापक के प्रशासिनक िहत में परस्पर गिरमापूणर् व्यवहार बनाए रखने तथा िकसी भी प्रकार के व्यिक्तगत िववाद से बचने हेतु िनदेर्िशत िकया जाए। 06. यिद िशकायतकतार् स्वयं प्रधानाध्यापक के साथ कायर् करने में असहजता व्यक्त करती हैं, तो प्रशासिनक सुिवधा एवं कायर्स्थल की शांित बनाए रखने के िलए सक्षम प्रािधकारी स्थानांतरण/ समायोजन के िवकल्प पर िवचार कर सकती है।" 8. Thus, in these circumstances, the competent authority was given the liberty to transfer the concerned person in order to maintain peace and for WRIA No. 14887 of 2026 3 safety and security for the Assistant Teacher concerned. 9. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant/Caveator requests to file an impleadment application but the same has not been accepted. The Court, in normal circumstances, would not have heard the complainant counsel, however, in these special circumstances where the case comes within the purview of The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, Mr. Adarsh Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant, namely, Pooja Sharma has been heard to assist the Court. 10. Mr. Adarsh Singh, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant in order to assist the Court states at the Bar that there is no denial by the petitioner before the concerned Committee that he had not asked the teachers to give personal message regarding any leave or for any other problem. He further submits that the petitioner has been transferred only 6 kms away from the institution in question which is an administrative transfer and not at the instance of respondent no.1-Addl. Chief Secretary, Basic Education U.P., Lucknow as nothing is there on record to show that respondent no.1 has ever directed for transfer of the petitioner. He also contends that the respondent no.1 has only forwarded the application which was placed before him so moved by the complainant, namely, Pooja Sharma. As regard the observation of the Regional Assistant Director of Education (Basic), First Region, Meerut that the transfer of any teacher can be done only on the basis of online process by an administrative order, in these special circumstances where in order to maintain safety, security of the complainant and taking into consideration the observation made by the concerned Committee, the petitioner has been transferred, therefore, there is no illegality in the order impugned. 11. In view of the aforesaid, the present petition is dismissed, accordingly. September 17, 2026 K.N. WRIA No. 14887 of 2026 4 (Mrs. Manju Rani Chauhan,J.) Digitally signed by :- KALP NATH SINGH High Court of Judicature at Allahabad