Officer transfers caused no vacuum in admin: EC to HC

Kolkata: EC told Calcutta HC on Monday that officer transfers have not created any vacuum in state administration, refuting claims in a PIL against EC's order to transfer officers outside Bengal before assembly elections.EC counsel senior advocate DS Naidu told the division bench led by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul the commission acted within its jurisdiction and its action was "not arbitrary or violative of any provision of the Constitution." The transfers are deputations under the commission, he said. "It is not a fact that transfer of officers has created any problem for state administration. It cannot affect day-to-day work," Naidu added.Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing the PIL petitioner, argued that when the Supreme Court is monitoring the issue and directed the Calcutta HC chief justice to oversee the matter, why is the CEO transferring officers?Advocate general Kishore Datta argued transfers can only be made by the employer—the state executive, not the CEO. "For the time being, EC is controlling state affairs, that does not mean it is the employer of those state officers," he submitted. The state supported the PIL's prayers."For the first time in our country, the SC has taken all executive power from the EC and vested it in the judicial department," Datta told the CJ, questioning how a high-graded officer was casually transferred.The PIL by lawyer Arka Kumar Nag sought to quash March 15-18 notifications transferring the chief secretary, DGP, home secretary, DMs, SPs, and senior IAS and IPS officers.The bench heard arguments and adjourned the matter till Wednesday.