Actions against B Ashok prima facie contempt of court, says CAT

KOCHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has said that the repeated transfer orders issued by the government against B. Ashok, Principal Secretary of the Agriculture Department and Agricultural Production Commissioner, appear to be prima facie contempt of court. However, the tribunal said it will not proceed with further action at this stage.

The tribunal closed further proceedings in the contempt petition filed by Ashok after noticing the government's assurance that service rules would be followed in the future. It also said that since Ashok has completed his tenure in the current post, the government can take a decision as per the rules.

Ashok had approached the tribunal challenging the government’s decision to appoint him on deputation as Commissioner for Local Government Reforms, which is not an IAS cadre post. While an earlier tribunal order to maintain the status quo was still in force, the government issued another order appointing him as Managing Director of the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation. However, the government later withdrew the order after questions were raised about the legality of appointing someone as CMD who was not a member of the corporation’s board.

There was also an attempt to appoint Ashok as Principal Secretary of the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, bypassing the tribunal’s earlier directions. That order too was cancelled.

Ashok had earlier alleged that the government was targeting him by issuing transfer orders on trivial grounds. He also argued that transferring him before completing the tenure in the Agriculture Department post was done without the approval of the Civil Services Board. The tribunal accepted this argument and allowed him to continue in his current position earlier.

Cadre posts left vacant
The tribunal also criticised the practice of leaving IAS cadre posts vacant while creating similarly named positions to appoint retired officials.

For example, the cadre post of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister was left vacant and a retired officer was appointed as Chief Principal Secretary instead.

Similarly, the cadre post of Director at the Institute of Management in Government (IMG) was left vacant, while a retired Chief Secretary was appointed as Director General until recently.

There are 261 IAS cadre posts in Kerala, of which 126 are senior positions.

The petition also pointed out that officers not favoured by the government are frequently transferred. For instance, seven officers were appointed as Director of the Scheduled Caste Development Department within just six months. Similar frequent transfers have also been reported in posts such as district collectors and secretaries.