Chauhan Binduben Govindbhai vs State Of Gujarat & 3

By this writ-application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, a Teacher, has prayed for the following reliefs :

"...that Your Lordships be pleased to issue a writ of or in the nature of mandamus and/or any other appropriate writ, order or direction :-

(a) to issue Notice for final disposal on returnable date;

(b) to direct the respondent no.4 to forthwith issue inter-district transfer order to the petitioner as a priority case of Divorced Woman (Tyakta) as per her request by application dtd. 5-12-2009 which has been duly entered at Sr. No. 6266 in the Register of Inter-District Transfer maintained by the respondent no.4 under the rules;

(c) to hold and declare and direct that the petitioner's application for inter-

district transfer dated 5-12-2009 entered into at Sr. No. 6266 in the Register of Inter-District Transfer maintained by the respondent no.4 under the rules Page 1 of 4 HC-NIC Page 1 of 4 Created On Fri May 06 02:42:00 IST 2016 C/SCA/3679/2015 ORDER is required to be considered on priority basis by the respondent no.4 as a case of Deserted Woman (Tyakta) for which priority was to be given as per the GR. dtd. 4-6-2004 as amended by GR. dtd. 1-4-2008, and the order is required to be issued forthwith as other priority cases of Widows and Handicapped who had given applications in the year 2009 or before that have already been considered and orders are issued by the respondent no.4;

(d) Pending the hearing and final disposal of this petition, be pleased to direct the respondent no.4 to forthwith issue inter-district transfer order to the petitioner as a priority case of Divorced Woman (Tyakta) as per her request by application dtd. 5-12-2009 which has been duly entered at Sr.No.6266 in the Register of Inter-District Transfer maintained by the respondent no.4 under the rules subject to further orders that may be passed by the Hon'ble Court;

(e) to grant any appropriate and just relief/s;"

The petitioner belongs to a Scheduled Caste. She is a native of the Sabarkantha District. She came to be appointed as a Primary Teacher on 18th July 2004 in the Banaskantha District under the respondent no.3 and joined her duties on 21st July 2004. She is presently serving at the Kukdi Primary School, Mankdi Pay-Center, Taluka Danta, District Banaskantha. Unfortunately, she came to be deserted by her husband. The marriage came to be dissolved according to the custom on 5th June 2009. A decree of divorce was also passed dated 17th September 2010 by the Court of the learned Principal Senior Civil Judge, Idar, in H.M.P. No.16 of 2009. She has no other support in life. She has aged parents and an elder brother who is paralytic. Unfortunately, her sister-in-law is also paralytic. Such are the circumstances of the petitioner.

In 2009, she applied for an inter-district transfer in view of the policy of the State Government dated 1st April 2008 which provides that priority should be given to a deserted woman (Tyakta) so far as inter-district transfer is concerned. The application of 2009 was not paid heed by any of the authorities. To her dismay, the policy came to be repealed by the Government Resolution dated 23rd May 2012. Now, there is no policy of the State Government so far as the Page 2 of 4 HC-NIC Page 2 of 4 Created On Fri May 06 02:42:00 IST 2016 C/SCA/3679/2015 ORDER deserted woman (Tyakta) is concerned.

A Civil Application has been filed bearing No.10303 of 2015. In the said Civil Application, the following order was came to be passed on 16th September 2015 :

"The petitioner has sought transfer on priority basis, as she is a deserted woman, basing her claim on Government Resolution dated 1.4.2008. It is her say that this Government Resolution came to be cancelled in May 2012, however, her rights should not have been defeated and that subsequent Government Resolution may not deprive her the priority which accrued by virtue of Government Resolution dated 1st April, 2008 which operated all along.

Mr.Rashesh Rindani, learned AGP appearing on advance copy for the State urged that respondents are right in operating on the basis of policy which is in operation. He also further urged that to insist upon implementation of the earlier Government Resolution which is no more in existence may not be sustained . He further urged that there are cogent reasons that the camp could not be organized. He further requires to take instructions with specific details as to when the last camp was organized and reasons for not organizing the camp thereafter.

Mr.Manish J.Patel, learned advocate appearing for the respondent No.4 has urged that for the reasons beyond the control of the respondents, the camp could not be organized, and therefore, no equity be created in favour of the applicant.

A writ petition has already been preferred, where no reply is filed by any of the respondents .

Bearing in mind urgency in the matter and as the camp is organized on 18th September, 2015, the applicant shall be permitted to participate in the Camp which is organized on 18th September, 2015. However, no order shall be issued till further order in her case by the respondent-authority.

Affidavit-in-reply shall be filed by the respondents on or before 30th September, 2015 and the petition being Special Civil Application No. 3679 2015 shall be posted on that date for final hearing.

Civil Application stands disposed of accordingly."

Although it was directed that affidavit-in-reply shall be filed by the respondents on or before 30th September 2015, yet till this date no reply has been filed. At this stage, if it is the stance of the respondents that the petitioner is not entitled to the inter-district transfer in the category of deserted woman (Tyakta), then such stance, according to me, is unreasonable and not tenable in law. She Page 3 of 4 HC-NIC Page 3 of 4 Created On Fri May 06 02:42:00 IST 2016 C/SCA/3679/2015 ORDER had applied on the date when the policy was very much in force. The authority was obliged to consider her case having regard to the social circumstances which I have narrated. However, the authorities sat tight over the matter and now they are taking shelter of the new policy.

Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, more particularly, the order passed by this Court dated 16th September 2015, the authority concerned is directed to pass appropriate order of inter-district transfer as prayed for by the petitioner. Let such order be passed within a period of one month from today. I expect the authorities to ensure that the helpless lady is not dragged to any further litigation.

It appears that pursuant to the interim order passed by this Court, the petitioner has also selected the place of transfer.

With the above, this writ-application is disposed of. Direct service is permitted.

In view of the order passed in the main matter, the connected Civil Application is disposed of.

(J.B.PARDIWALA, J.) MOIN Page 4 of 4 HC-NIC Page 4 of 4 Created On Fri May 06 02:42:00 IST 2016