The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday asked the State Chief Secretary to explain why public servants were still bringing pressure from political leaders for transfers despite there being an order of prohibition for use of such influences, and why the authorities were not adhering to the norm.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Jayant M. Patel and Justice A.N. Venugopala Gowda issued the direction after it was brought to its notice that there is a Government Order, issued on June 7, 2013, that not only prohibits use of political pressure in transfer matters but also makes it clear that violation of such prohibition would be construed as misconduct under service rules.
The Bench was hearing a petition filed by S. Dinesh, Sub-Registrar of Dasanapura, who had questioned the order of the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal dismissing his application against his transfer from Dasanapura. He had alleged that one Lalitha Amrutesh, who was posted to Dasanapura, had used political pressure to get the transfer. However, Ms. Amrutesh had pointed out to both the tribunal and the court that Mr. Dinesh himself had used political influences to get posting to Dasanapura several years ago.
