The Supreme Court on January 4, 2022, issued notice after a plea was filed by the West Bengal government against a Delhi High Court order. The order directed the state government to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the transfer of IAS officer Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru.
Tanneeru had sought an inter-cadre transfer to Tamil Nadu after she got married to Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer Raja Gopal Sunkara in 2016. The West Bengal government in November 2016 refused to grant its consent for the inter-cadre transfer citing shortage of officers.
The apex court bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice PS Narasimha assured an early listing of the matter and settling the position of law. Justice Joseph remarked:
“If the IAS officers end up marrying officers from other cadres and seek for a transfer, how will the states function?”
Tanneeru gave a representation on March 29, 2016, to the Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for inter-cadre transfer. The DoPT forwarded it to the chief secretary, West Bengal, in order to secure the concurrence of the state before effecting the inter-cadre transfer.
On July 21, 2016, the Tamil Nadu chief secretary forwarded the NOC regarding her transfer to the state cadre. However, West Bengal declined the request citing an acute shortage of officers. Interestingly though, West Bengal offered to absorb her spouse, Raja Gopal Sunkara, in the state cadre, provided he chose to make such a move.
Evidently, she accepted her lot for the next three years or so, after which she made a fresh representation to West Bengal for reconsideration of her proposal for change in cadre. As there was no movement in the matter, the petitioner approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). Despite the Tribunal’s direction to West Bengal to reconsider her request, the state let the matter rest. This impelled her to make a representation on April 13, 2021 to the chief secretary of West Bengal. There was still no response, leading Tanneru to approach the Delhi High Court.
The Court observed from Rule 5(2) of the 1954 Cadre Rules that inter-cadre transfer cannot take place without the concurrence of the concerned state government to whom the officer is attached/assigned. However, the refusal of the request for inter-cadre transfer by an officer on the ground of marriage can only be sustained if it is backed by cogent reasons as such a decision is subject to judicial review.
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Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights says that every individual has the right to insist that the state respects her/his private and family life, home and correspondence.
The Delhi High Court relied on the observations made by the House of Lords in the matter of Huang (FC) vs Secretary of State for the Home Department where a Chinese citizen’s application seeking permission to remain in the UK where other members of her family were residing, was declined by the Secretary of State.
“We have no doubt that the right to meaningful family life, which allows a person to live a fulfilling life and helps in retaining her/his physical, psychological and emotional integrity would find a place in the four corners of Article 21 of the Constitution of India,”
-said the division bench. The High Court on November 16, 2021, directed the West Bengal government to issue a no-objection directive for the transfer of Tanneeru to Tamil Nadu.
The Union government in July 2021 approved the inter-cadre transfer of three IAS officers on marriage grounds. One was Dr Haaris Rasheed who was transferred from the Kerala cadre to the West Bengal one on the grounds of marriage to Jameel Fathima Zeba. Another officer, Neha, was transferred from the Gujarat cadre to the Haryana cadre on grounds of marriage to Rahul Hooda. The government also approved the inter-cadre transfer of Dr Nagarjun B Gowda from the Manipur cadre to Madhya Pradesh on grounds of marriage to Srushti Jayant Deshmukh.
Further, the Delhi High Court in May 2021 directed the West Bengal government to relieve an IAS officer of the state cadre to enable her to join the cadre of her husband who is an IAS officer in Himachal Pradesh. The bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Navin Chawla dismissed the state’s petition against a decision of CAT ordering it to grant NOC to IAS officer Gandharva Rathore for the cadre transfer.
Rathore made a representation to the state government in November 2017 seeking change of her cadre on the grounds of marriage to Anurag Chander on October 31, 2017. The Himachal government conveyed its no-objection to the inter-cadre transfer.
In February 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had changed the service rules to allow married IAS and IPS officers to get the same cadre state. Before that there was no provision in existing guidelines for cases where officers of the All India Services can opt for the cadre of their spouses.
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The matter pertains to a 2011-batch IAS officer P Parthiban who married his batchmate, Nisha, an IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, who hailed from Delhi. Parthiban, a native of Tamil Nadu, was allocated the Union Territory cadre, that includes Delhi. The couple had sought a common cadre state citing their marriage as civil services rules allow it. However, the rules bar any member of the service from working in his or her home state.
Headed by Secretary, DoPT, the matter was put up before a committee that decides cases of inter-cadre transfer and deputation which require relaxation in existing guidelines. The panel had then recommended changes in the guidelines, which has been approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by the PM.
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Interstate transfer is permitted only in the case of marriages between IAS officers. In such cases, both must apply for a cadre change citing the reason. Cadre changes have taken place mainly in the case of marriages of two IAS officers. Either one of them is sent to the cadre of another or both of them are transferred to a third cadre.
—By Shivam Sharma and India Legal Bureau