The Madras High Court has stayed the operation of an order passed by Director of Agriculture on September 24 to transfer all Assistant Technology Managers (ATMs) and Block Technology Managers (BTMs), serving on consolidated pay of Rs. 25,000 a month across the State, at least two blocks away from their present workplace.
Justice V. Parthiban granted the interim stay after Tamil Nadu Government Agricultural Technology Management Agency Officers Society filed a writ petition alleging that the transfers were a knee jerk reaction to detection of huge amount of corruption in disbursing Rs. 6,000 a year to farmers eligible under Prime Minister’s Kisan scheme.
The society told the court that irregularities in the scheme had been detected across the country. In Tamil Nadu, the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) was probing the matter. The State government had terminated the services of around 30 officials involved in the crime and the police had arrested some of them.
Though others were working peacefully, the Director of Agriculture had suddenly ordered transfer of all ATMs and BTMs. Stating that they were struggling to manage their families with the consolidated pay, the association said its members could not afford to get transferred constantly with such meagre salary at their disposal.
