Transfers, Deputation and Postings: Questions and Answers

Do both, starting today. Send a short written representation to the authority that passed the order and keep the acknowledgment. Unless you get a deferment or a stay, plan to report at the new station within your joining time, because sitting at home after being relieved is usually booked as unauthorised absence. People who simply refuse to move often lose more in the disciplinary case that follows than they could have won on the transfer itself.

Only on narrow grounds. Since State of U.P. v. Gobardhan Lal (2004) and the cases before it, courts step in only where the order is mala fide, passed by an authority without power, against a statutory rule, or a punishment dressed up as an administrative move. Family hardship or a breach of non-statutory guidelines, on its own, rarely succeeds. That is why the representation to the department matters so much here. Our page on challenging a transfer order goes into the grounds.

It does, mainly in money and seniority. A transfer in public interest carries transfer TA, the composite transfer grant and full joining time, and your seniority does not move. A transfer 'on own request' usually carries none of the travel benefits, and where it takes you to another cadre or unit you normally join at the bottom of the seniority list there. Look at which phrase your order uses before you accept, or withdraw, a request.

It depends on distance. Under the Central Civil Services (Joining Time) Rules, 1979, as amended, a change within the same station gets one day, and a move to another station gets somewhere between 10 and 15 days depending on how far it is, with extra days for places such as the North East and the islands. Holidays falling in between are counted. Unused joining time can, within limits, be credited to earned leave. Confirm the current table with your accounts section before booking tickets.

Not without a reason the rules accept. Fundamental Rule 15 lets the government move you from one post to another, but it bars sending you to a post carrying less pay except for inefficiency or misbehaviour, or on your own written request. If a so-called transfer actually puts you in a lower pay level, check whether it is a reversion in disguise. That changes the case completely, so raise it in writing straight away.

Usually yes, under your department's own transfer policy. Most ministries fix a normal stay at a station or desk, often two to three years, and an early move needs reasons on file. After the Supreme Court's 2013 judgment in T.S.R. Subramanian v. Union of India, many departments route officers' transfers through a Civil Services Board meant to check premature shifting. Ask under RTI for the board minutes or the file noting on your move. An early transfer with no recorded reason is easier to question.

It can shift you, but it cannot use the transfer in place of a punishment. In Somesh Tiwari v. Union of India (2009), the Supreme Court set aside a transfer that rested on an unverified complaint and was punitive in substance. If the file shows you were moved because of allegations never put to you, that is a ground. If the department only wanted you away from the desk while it looked into a complaint, courts generally accept that as administrative. RTI on the file noting shows which it was.

Legally they can, but many transfer policies try not to. Several departments say employees in their last year or two of service should not be shifted except on request or for strong reasons, and some offer a final posting at a station of choice. These are guidelines, not statutory rights, yet the department is expected to follow them or record why it cannot. Put your date of superannuation in the representation, and mention the pension papers still to be finished at your current office.

It can. The DoPT guidelines of 30 September 2009 on posting husband and wife together cover not only couples who are both in central service, but also cases where one spouse works for a state government or a public sector undertaking. You can be considered for the station where your wife works if your department has an office and a vacancy there. Her post usually cannot be moved by the Centre, so the request must come from your side. See our page on spouse postings.

Ask for the closest station where your department does have a post. The spouse guidelines speak of posting couples together as far as possible, which leaves room to ask for a station within commuting distance, another office of the same ministry, or deputation to a central office in that city. Name two or three real alternatives in your representation. A request offering options is much harder to turn down with a one-line reply than a request for one particular office.

Generally you should be. DoPT instructions of 31 March 2014 say employees with disabilities may be exempted from routine rotational transfers and allowed to continue where they can work well, and that they should get preference in choosing a place of posting. Section 20 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 adds a duty not to discriminate in employment. An order against these instructions is not void by itself, but the department must show a real need. Attach your certificate. See RPwD Act protections.

Send papers from a government hospital, a CGHS doctor or an authorised specialist, not only a private prescription. The certificate should name the illness, say that treatment is continuing, and explain why it cannot be carried on at the new station. Add recent discharge summaries and the next appointment dates, and point out if the facility you need is missing at the new posting. Some departments refer such requests to a medical board, so apply early. Read more on medical ground transfers.

Most departments keep one, often called the request transfer register, arranged by date of application. Ask your establishment section for your number. If they will not tell you, an RTI application for the list, with other people's personal details masked, usually gets it. In some offices a request lapses unless renewed every year, so check that rule. A wrong position on the list is one of the most common and most fixable errors. Our page on request and inter-cadre transfers covers the rest.

It can refuse, but not arbitrarily. A request transfer is not a right, and the usual reply is that your station is short of staff. Yet if colleagues in your grade who applied after you are being released, or the refusal ignores the department's own policy, you can ask for reasons and question an unequal decision. Send a fresh representation quoting the policy clause and the posts of those released, and keep the reply. That reply becomes the order you take to the tribunal.

No. Both of you must apply, both must hold the same grade and post, and both controlling offices must agree. Offices also check pending vigilance cases and dues before letting either of you go. Seniority after a mutual move is governed by your department's rule, and in many cadres both employees lose some position, so read it before signing. Swaps often collapse because one side is never relieved, so press for a firm relieving date once the order is out.

Usually not. Promotion and posting come together, and you cannot take the higher pay while refusing the station. You may decline the promotion in writing, but DoPT instructions then generally keep you out of promotion for a year, and your MACP can be affected. Before refusing, ask whether another vacancy is available and place any family or medical reason on record. See refusing a promotion for how the one-year bar works.

As far as possible, yes. The DoPT order of 14 December 1983 on postings in the North East promises officers who complete their tenure a posting to a station of their choice, subject to vacancies, and many departments repeat this for their own hard stations and the islands. Give your three preferred stations in writing a few months before the tenure ends, so there is a record if the promise is ignored. Our page on hard area tenure explains the rest.

Tenure normally runs from the date you actually took charge at the hard station, not the date the order was signed. Some policies leave out long leave, training or attachment elsewhere, so read the clause on how tenure is counted. Keep the charge report that shows your joining date. A few months either way often decides who is moved out first in the next list, so get the error corrected in writing early rather than arguing about it later.

It may be, though timing alone will not prove it. The tribunal looks for more: was your name outside the normal rotation, did the officer you complained against sign the order, were colleagues with longer stays left alone. Collect those facts before alleging mala fides, and name an officer personally only if you can support the charge. If your OA is pending, the new order can be brought before the bench by a miscellaneous application. Advocate B.K. Singh usually asks for the station seniority list first, because it shows quickly whether the move fits any pattern.

Deputation is a temporary appointment to a post outside your own cadre or department, often in another ministry, an autonomous body or a PSU, made with your consent. You keep your lien in the parent department and go back when the tenure ends. A transfer moves you within your own cadre and needs no consent. So you can usually say no to deputation, while a transfer generally cannot be refused. Our page on deputation and repatriation covers disputes on both sides.

Check first whether your application was forwarded with vigilance clearance. The parent department can decline to forward an application in the public interest, but once it has forwarded it and you are selected, holding you back needs a good reason on file. Write to the head of office enclosing the selection letter and ask for a relieving date or reasons. Borrowing offices rarely wait long, so delay can cost you the post. See vigilance clearance problems if that is the stated reason.

Normally three years, which may be extended by a year or two with approval. The tenure rules come from the DoPT deputation instructions of 17 June 2010 and the order of 17 February 2016 on tenure limits, and the recruitment rules of the post you go to may set their own period. Going beyond those limits needs special approval and is given rarely, even if both offices are happy to keep you. Your tenure starts from the date you join, so note it in your diary.

Usually only after a cooling-off period of three years in your parent cadre. The DoPT deputation instructions require this gap between two spells outside, so that officers do not hop from one outside post to the next. An application forwarded before the gap ends is likely to be rejected at scrutiny. If your earlier deputation was cut short for reasons that had nothing to do with you, say so in your request; a relaxation is rare but can be sought with approval.

Under the Seventh Pay Commission orders of 2017, deputation (duty) allowance is generally 5% of basic pay, capped at Rs 4,500 a month, if you stay in the same station, and 10% of basic pay, capped at Rs 9,000, if you change station. You may instead opt for the pay of the deputation post under the option rules. Work out both on your own pay level before choosing, and check the current orders. See deputation allowance options.

It stops you losing a promotion only because you are away. If the officer just junior to you in the parent cadre is promoted, you can be given a proforma promotion there, so your seniority and pay in the parent cadre move as if you had stayed back. It applies only if you were otherwise eligible and fit. Ask your cadre controlling authority to apply it whenever a DPC promotes your junior, and keep track of DPC dates even while you are on deputation.

Once you are absorbed, your lien in the parent department ends and you become a regular employee of the new office. Past service is usually counted for pension under the absorption rules, but the details differ for another central department, a central autonomous body and a PSU. Ask both offices for the terms in writing, covering seniority, pay protection and who bears pension liability, before you consent. When Advocate B.K. Singh is asked about absorption, he first reads the recruitment rules of the new post, because they decide whether absorption is even allowed.

Generally as retirement. Under the central pension rules, an employee permanently absorbed in a central PSU or a body controlled by the Centre is treated as having retired from government on the date of absorption, and gets retirement benefits for the government service, instead of losing them as an ordinary resignation would. The exact benefits depend on the date and the body concerned. Make sure the acceptance order states the absorption date clearly, and keep it with your pension papers.

No. An extension needs the consent of the parent department, the borrowing office and you, and often the approval of a higher authority within the permitted limits. If you are kept on after the tenure ends without a sanctioned extension, the stretch can be called irregular, and the deputation allowance for it may be questioned years later at audit. Get the extension order in hand before the old tenure date passes, not after.

Your parent department should, because you hold a lien there and it must give you a posting when you return. If the borrowing office has relieved you and the parent office keeps you waiting, report for duty in writing and ask for a posting order. The waiting days should be treated as duty awaiting orders, not as leave or absence. Keep the dated joining report; it protects your pay and service record. See which department to sue if a case follows.

Yes, stigmatic words in a repatriation order are a separate grievance. Early repatriation with proper notice is an administrative step. An order that records poor work or misconduct without any inquiry or chance to reply, though, can follow you into future promotions and deputation selections. Ask in writing for the words to be removed, or for the material behind them. If the borrowing office refuses, that refusal can go to the tribunal along with the repatriation itself.

It should not. An attachment is meant as a short arrangement for urgent work, and on paper your sanctioned post and station stay the same. When it runs for months or years, you may miss transfer TA, your turn under the posting policy, or credit for hard station service. Ask in writing for either a regular transfer order or a return to your own post. A written refusal, or six months of silence, gives the tribunal something definite to examine.

Yes. Both depend on the classification of the city where you are posted, so they change from the day you join. A move from a metro to a smaller town can cut HRA noticeably. There are special rules for some postings, such as the North East and the islands, where the family may be allowed HRA at the old station, so ask about those if they apply. Check your first salary slip at the new station for wrong rates or a missed transfer grant.

For a limited time. The Directorate of Estates rules let an allottee who is transferred out keep general pool accommodation for a short period on normal licence fee, and in some cases longer on a higher fee, for example so that children can finish the school year. Apply for retention in time. Staying on without permission attracts damages, which can later be recovered even from gratuity. Check the present retention periods and charges before you plan the move.

Treat it as real, but ask for the signed copy. Many offices now circulate orders by email or on messaging groups before the formal copy reaches you. What makes an order valid is that the competent authority issued it, not the mode by which you first saw it, although your joining time usually runs from relieving. Reply on the official channel saying you have seen it, and ask for the signed order and relieving order. A missing paper copy is not a safe reason to stay away.

No. Only the authority named in the rules or in the department's delegation of powers can order your transfer. If a junior officer signs an order that, under the delegation, must come from the head of department or a board, the order can be challenged for want of authority. Ask for the delegation order under RTI if you suspect this. Advocate B.K. Singh checks the signing authority early in every transfer brief, because it is one of the few purely legal grounds that does not need proof of bad faith.

That depends on your service rules and appointment letter. For many Group C posts the cadre is a division, circle or zone, and a move outside it is ordinarily made only on request, because it changes your seniority unit. Group A services usually carry all-India transfer liability written into the offer of appointment. Read the transfer liability clause in your appointment letter and the recruitment rules. If they limit you to one unit, an order moving you outside it is a strong point to raise.