An expired NOC confers no vested right to inter-divisional transfer or joining.

The applicant, an ST-category employee posted as a Loco Pilot (Goods) in the Guntakal Division of South Central Railway, sought an own-request inter-divisional transfer to the Kota Division of West Central Railway.

Kota Division issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) on 20 November 2023, valid for one year until 19 November 2024, pursuant to Railway Board instructions, including RBE No. 39/2024.

The applicant was not relieved by Guntakal Division until 27 May 2025, approximately seven months after expiry of the NOC, allegedly because of a shortage of Loco Running Staff.

Kota Division subsequently declined to extend the NOC, stating that there was no vacancy for ST-category employees and that the Division already had excess ST representation.

Although the applicant reported at Kota Division on 16 September 2025, the respondents stated that he was never permitted to join there.

The applicant challenged the rejection order dated 6 October 2025 under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, seeking quashing of that order and permission to join Kota Division.

Whether the applicant acquired a right to be accepted and permitted to join Kota Division on the basis of an NOC that had expired before he was relieved by the lending Division?

Whether Kota Division was required to extend the NOC or accept the applicant despite the absence of an ST-category vacancy and the alleged excess representation of ST employees?

Whether the delay in relieving the applicant by Guntakal Division could revive or extend the validity of the expired NOC?

The Tribunal applied Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, as the statutory basis for the Original Application.

It applied Railway Board instructions contained in RBE No. 39/2024, under which the NOC for the proposed inter-divisional transfer was valid for one year.

The Tribunal held that an own-request transfer is dependent upon the consent of both the lending and recipient Divisions and that an employee has no vested right to be transferred to, or posted at, a particular station or Division.

Acceptance remains subject to the recipient Division’s administrative requirements, including sanctioned strength, vacancy position, and category-wise representation.

The Tribunal found that Kota Division’s NOC expired on 19 November 2024, whereas the applicant was relieved only on 27 May 2025.

Although the delay was attributed to shortage of Loco Running Staff at Guntakal Division, that administrative difficulty could not extend or revive an NOC whose prescribed validity had already ended.

The recipient Division had initially agreed to honour the NOC during its validity period, notwithstanding the absence of an ST vacancy, but later refused extension because of excess ST representation and the absence of a vacancy.

Since the applicant was relieved after expiry of the NOC and lacked a subsisting consent from Kota Division, he could not claim a right to join merely on the basis of the expired NOC.

The Tribunal therefore found no illegality in the rejection of the request for extension.

It held that the applicant had no vested right to be accepted by Kota Division after expiry of the NOC, and that the delay in relieving him did not extend the NOC’s validity.

The Original Application was accordingly dismissed, with no order as to costs.

Any pending Miscellaneous Applications were closed.