Uttarakhand HC Sets Aside Vet Officer’s Chamoli Transfer Because Administrative Move Lacked Higher-Rank Approval

The petitioner, a Senior Veterinary Officer, was transferred from Veterinary Hospital, Vikasnagar, Dehradun, where he had joined on 10 August 2022, to Veterinary Hospital, Pokhri, Chamoli, by order dated 13 February 2025.

He challenged the transfer, which was stated to be on administrative grounds.

The State cited allegations that he was not operating available diagnostic equipment and was not following superior officers’ instructions.

The petitioner disputed those allegations and contended, among other things, that the statutory approval required for an administrative transfer had not been obtained.

Section 18(5) of the Uttarakhand Annual Transfer for Public Servants Act, 2017 permits the competent authority to issue posting or transfer orders separately from transfers made under clauses (1) to (4), without placing those cases before the transfer committee.

Its proviso requires the competent authority, when making a transfer on administrative grounds, to obtain approval from an officer one rank higher.

The Court treated that approval as a condition precedent to an administrative transfer.

The Court found that the petitioner’s transfer had been made on administrative grounds without the approval of an officer one rank higher, as required by the proviso to Section 18(5).

That statutory non-compliance was sufficient to invalidate the transfer; the Court did not need to determine the merits of the State’s allegations or the petitioner’s other grounds of challenge.

It allowed the writ petition and set aside the impugned transfer order; any pending applications were also disposed of.