The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday (July 19) stayed the transfer orders of several senior UP police officers. The transfers were ordered by UP Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi’s government.

A petition against such transfers landed at the court and the court has given the authorities in government six weeks to settle all the issues therein. The transfers, therefore, were stayed for six weeks.

The petition filed by Vinod Kumar was being heard by the single judge bench of Justice Abhinava Upadhya.

Mass transfer of policemen and even top bureaucrats are routinely undertaken by all new political dispensations in India, showing reasons that are way out of sync with ground realities. Even a slight digression from the official line can result in a transfer. Hence these petitions.

—India Legal Bureau