A former MLA of Puducherry has filed a public interest litigation petition in the Madras High Court for a direction to the Centre and the territorial administration to constitute a Civil Services Board to recommend transfer and posting of senior officials in the Union Territory. The petitioner also sought to restrain the authorities from transferring any All-India Service officer prior to his or her completing two years in a given post.
The petitioner, K. Deivanayagam, said he was the president of the Pondicherry Origin Adi-Dravidar Rights Protection Movement. In its order in a case on October 31 last year, the Supreme Court had said that it was mandatory to form a CSB at the Central and State levels. It alone had the power to recommend the transfer and posting of officials, including shifting before the completion of the tenure period. Frequent transfer of senior officials in Puducherry, particularly the transfer of the previous Chief Secretary and the proposed transfer of the present incumbent violated the law laid down by the Supreme Court. Such frequent transfers resulted in dislocation of governance and interruption in the implementation of various welfare schemes and projects. When the petition came up before the First Bench comprising the Acting Chief Justice Satish K.Agnihotri and Justice M.M.Sundresh, the Additional Solicitor-General, P.Wilson, sought time. The court adjourned the matter to March 13.
