The Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) has asked the State government to clarify when an online system for transfers can be introduced in the Animal Husbandry department for veterinary surgeons and senior veterinary surgeons.
In a September 28 order, KAT also wanted to know why general transfer orders were issued in the department without giving the transferred staff an opportunity to indicate their choices or sans publishing a draft transfer list so that objections could be filed.
The order by KAT chairman C.K. Abdul Rehim and members M.R. Sreelatha and P.K. Kesavan came on a petition filed by the Kerala Government Veterinary Officers' Association (KGVOA) challenging a September 23 department order transferring 130 veterinary surgeons without first creating a transparent online mechanism for the exercise. In an August 29 order, KAT had asked the department to create the online system for transfers without further delay. The department was yet to comply with it.
The department had justified the transfer of the 130 veterinary surgeons saying that the 2022 general transfers were delayed and that vacancies needed to be filled to contain stray dog-related problems. The department also noted that it was in the process of creating an electronic database of the staff. The KGVOA had moved KAT challenging this order.
The Personnel and Administrative Reforms department had issued orders in February 2017 and October 2021 asking government departments to create electronic databases of their staff and implement transfers and postings exclusively through the online system.
In a reply to the State Assembly in February this year, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also said that departments had been directed to carry out transfers using the online mechanism.
