Bengaluru: Hassan Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri Dasari's decision to move the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) against her transfer has not gone down well among the IAS fraternity of Karnataka, who believe she is fighting a losing battle.
Some senior IAS officers and retired officers of the rank of Additional Chief Secretary feel the government is empowered to transfer its officers and cannot be challenged in the courts or the CAT. Pointing out that unlike senior IPS officers, the IAS officers do not have a legislation to protect them from premature transfers, they say the government can justify making them on administrative grounds. “Questioning transfers in courts and tribunals will only harm an officer’s career,” they warn.
Said a senior IAS officer , “I have been transferred numerous times during my last 10 year stint. It is not advisable for any officer to take on the government in the interest of his or her career. The CAT could quash the transfer order and allow the officer to continue in the same post for two or three months more. But then what next? Continuing in the same post could result in a backlash and the officer may see lack of cooperation from subordinates, officers from other departments and ultimately the state government, which could intensify its fault finding mission against him.”
Said another officer, "We are civil servants bound by rules and regulations. The elected government enjoys all powers to change or appoint any officer of its choice. Questioning the transfer orders will only invite its wrath."
A retired IAS officer recalls he was transferred six times in a year in the nineties, but did not question it in a court or tribunal as he felt the government could justify itself by claiming the transfers were made in public interest. “En masse transfer of IAS officers happens whenever a new government comes to power. Many have in the past moved the tribunal and court but achieved nothing. Also, we have seen what happened to several honest and upright IAS officers across the country. Heroism is rewarded only in the tinsel world , not in the real," he added.
