No interim relief to transferred cops from HC

Having declared the transfer of policemen up to the level of sub-inspector by regional and district-level boards valid and legal in February

Having declared the transfer of policemen up to the level of sub-inspector by regional and district-level boards valid and legal in February,the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday refused to grant any interim relief to nearly 50,000 policemen.

A single-judge bench had already refused to grant relief to policemen who had been transferred by these boards to areas far from their native towns. The policemen had earlier argued that the transfers were illegal.

A division bench comprising Justices R K Agarwal and Justice Bharti Sapru,while refusing to grant interim relief,asked the state government to file its replies by the second week of August.

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Arguing for the state,chief standing counsel M C Chaturvedi said that with the division bench having already upheld the legal validity of the constitution of the boards at the regional and district levels,the transfers ordered by these boards could not be called illegal.

Following an order dated April 2010,the state government had constituted regional and district-level boards in the wake of a Supreme Court order passed in connection with a petition filed by former state DGP Prakash Singh. These boards transferred nearly 50,000 policemen,including constables,head constables and SIs,who were posted close to their home districts. They were generally transferred to areas far from their native districts.

The policemen affected by the order approached the high court in February. While a single-judge bench had said it saw no reason to interfere with the order passed by the state government,a two-judge bench also rejected the pleas for relief of the policemen who argued that the transfers were illegal.

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