A subsisting transfer order must be implemented by relieving the transferred employee.

The petitioner, Head of the Mechanical Department at Chhattisgarh Institute of Technology (CIT), Jashpur, was transferred to CIT, Raigarh by order dated 16 July 2026.

A challenge to that transfer by another person was dismissed on 1 September 2026.

The petitioner later sought to be relieved to join at Raigarh, but respondent No. 3 had not relieved him.

The State submitted that any undecided application would be considered and decided expeditiously.

The Court noted that the transfer order had neither been cancelled nor modified.

1. Whether the petitioner was entitled to be relieved pursuant to the subsisting transfer order dated 16 July 2026

2. Whether the respondent authorities could defer implementation of that order despite its having neither been modified nor cancelled

The Court relied on Ms. Manisha Agrawal v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors., 2015 (4) CGLJ 182, for the principle that a transfer order must be complied with unless and until it is modified, altered, or cancelled by the competent authority.

No statute was cited.

The competent authority had issued the transfer order, and it remained in force. The earlier challenge to the transfer had also been dismissed.

Applying Manisha Agrawal, the Court held that the subsisting order was required to be implemented; the State’s submission that the petitioner’s application could be decided did not displace the obligation to give effect to the transfer.

The Court directed the concerned respondents, including respondent No. 3, to relieve the petitioner pursuant to the transfer order within 20 days of receiving a copy of the order, enabling him to join at CIT, Raigarh.