Chhattisgarh HC Upholds Assigning Manpur Subdivision Charge To SDO After Previous Chargeholder Was Relieved

The petitioner, a Sub-Divisional Officer in the Rural Engineering Services (RES), challenged an order dated 13 October 2026 assigning him charge of RES Sub-Division Manpur.

He argued that the order’s stated reason—Assistant Engineer Sagar Kumar Shende’s being relieved from Mohla—was self-contradictory, and that the petitioner had already been relieved from his substantive posting at Ambagarh Chowki, a matter challenged in a separate writ petition.

The respondents submitted that Shende had held charge of Sub-Division Manpur in addition to his duties at Division Mohla, and that the petitioner was assigned the charge after Shende was relieved from both assignments, due to administrative exigencies.

The petitioner sought to quash the order and be permitted to continue at his substantive posting.

The judgment cites no statute, regulation, or precedent.

It applies the principle that an administrative assignment made to address an exigency does not warrant judicial interference where the record supports the stated administrative basis and no illegality is established.

The Court accepted the respondents’ explanation that Shende had held charge of Sub-Division Manpur alongside his duties at Division Mohla and had been relieved from both.

It therefore found that assigning the Manpur charge to the petitioner addressed an administrative exigency.

On that account, the Court found no illegality in the impugned order warranting interference; it did not treat the separate challenge to the petitioner’s relieving from Ambagarh Chowki as establishing that the Manpur assignment was invalid.

The Court dismissed the writ petition.