Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: State government officials not joining their new places of posting in time after transfer orders will have to face stringent disciplinary action.
It has come to the notice of the state government that a section of officials does not join their new places of posting after their transfer. In the recent past, the state government had to place five ACS officers under suspension for not following their transfer orders.
In order to make officials join their new places of timely, the Department of Personnel issued an office memorandum regarding timely handing over and taking over charge on transfers and postings.
The office memorandum said, “It is a well-established part of service law jurisprudence that transfer is an exigency of service. Under the terms and conditions of service, an official has no right to remain absent or refuse to join in the new place of posting, upon transfer. All transfers and postings must be given effect by an official under order of transfer without any delay, and such an official should hand over charge immediately. Any representation submitted by the official concerned against the transfer order will be entertained only after he/ she has joined in the new place of posting. If the transferred official fails to join in the new place of posting timely, strict disciplinary action will be initiated against the official.”
The office memorandum further said, “It is observed that some officials under order of transfer, take the plea of not being released by the controlling/ reporting officer, as the grounds for not handing over charge. However, there is no provision in any Rule for issue of release order by any authority subordinate to the authority which has issued the order of transfer. Therefore, the practice of issue of release order, consequent to issue of a transfer order, is henceforth barred. No official needs to wait for a release order to hand over charge, once an order of transfer is issued. If an official does not hand over charge on his own promptly, the official shall stand released automatically.”
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