Immunity from transfer for elected association office bearers must be granted regardless of long tenure or post-transfer notification.

The applicant, an Assistant General Manager (AGM) at BSNL Corporate Office, was transferred to the Gujarat Circle via an order dated 02.05.2025.

The applicant is an elected office bearer (Assistant Circle Secretary) of the All India Graduate Engineers & Telecom Officers Association (AIGETOA), having been elected on 22.04.2025.

Although three other similarly situated officers were granted immunity and had their transfers modified, the respondents rejected the applicant's representation through a speaking order dated 15.09.2025, alleging the applicant sought election merely to evade transfer.

BSNL justified the transfer based on public interest and manpower rationalization post-VRS scheme.

1. Whether the applicant is entitled to immunity from transfer as an elected office bearer under the BSNL (Recognition of Executives’ Association) Rules, 2014.

2. Whether the denial of immunity to the applicant, while granting it to similarly situated officers, constitutes arbitrary and discriminatory action.

Rule 10(A)(4) of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (Recognition of Executives’ Association) Rules, 2014, which mandates that the concession of immunity from transfer is applicable to specific office bearers (General Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, and Financial Secretary/Treasurer) for the duration of the recognition period.

Constitutional principle of equality under Article 14, emphasizing that administrative actions must not be arbitrary or discriminatory when dealing with similarly situated employees.

The Tribunal found that while BSNL claimed ignorance of the applicant’s election at the time of the initial transfer order (02.05.2025), they were indisputably aware of his status by the time the speaking order was passed on 15.09.2025.

The Tribunal rejected the respondents' argument that the applicant’s long tenure justified denying him immunity, noting that long tenure does not override specific statutory/rule-based protections.

The court observed that BSNL had granted immunity to three other officers (Ankur Jhalani, Sachin Swarnkar, and Gowri Shankar S) under the same REA Rules. The Tribunal held that denying the applicant the same benefit without justifiable grounds was illogical, arbitrary, and a violation of the principle of equality.

The Original Application was allowed; the transfer order dated 02.05.2025 (specific to the applicant) and the speaking order dated 15.09.2025 were quashed and set aside. No costs were ordered.