The High Court of Karnataka has directed the State government to issue necessary guidelines to assign reason for posting an officer belong to the lower cadre to posts designated for the officers of higher grade before seeking approval for such postings or transfers.
A Division Bench comprising Justice K. Somashekar and Justice Rajesh Rai K. issued the direction on a petition between two KAS (senior scale) officers, Prajna Ammembala and Patharaju V., over the posting to the post of Additional Director-1, Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs, which is a post designated for the officers of IAS cadre or KAS (super time scale) cadre.
The Bench said that even though posting of officers belong to lower cadre to the posts designated for higher cadre bear the signature of the Chief Minister on records as per the rules, “such orders cannot be said to be a licit order as we find absence of reasons to enlighten the Chief Minister” on non-availability of eligible persons to be posted to the said posts or why a person of a lower cadre is posted to such posts.
In the present case, the court found that the post of Additional Director-1 was earmarked for higher cadre but both the officers, one who was transferred from that post and the another who was posted to that post, belonged to the lower cadre, and both were contesting about the ineligibility of other to hold that post.
