Transferring employees with utter disregard to their health, family or safety concerns is against human dignity, says Madras High Court
Transferring employees, especially women, from one State to another by disregarding the well being of their children/themselves suffering from life threatening medical conditions, their family responsibilities or the safety concerns in the new place of work could violate Article 21 of the Constitution which protects human dignity, the Madras High Court has said.
Justice C.V. Karthikeyan wrote: 'Transfers cannot be carried out in a mechanical or burdensome manner. There must be a balance between administrative requirements and the personal safety, family responsibilities and well -being of the employee.' The verdict was delivered while disposing of writ petitions filed against Union Bank of India's (UBI) staff transfer policies.
The judge agreed with senior counsel R. Vagai, representing All India Union Bank Officer Staff Association, that UBI's transfer policies disproportionately affect women employees and they must be corrected since a woman tied to her family, children, parents and the security at her workplace could not be expected to be transferred frequently without significant hardship.
He also recorded her reliance upon the 2021 verdict in Lieutenant Colonel Nitisha and Others versus Union of India wherein the Supreme Court had said: 'A facially equal application of laws to unequal parties is a farce when the law is structured to cater to a male standpoint. Presently, adjustments, both in thought and letter, are necessary to rebuild the structures of an equal society.'
Central government senior panel counsel K. Srinivasamurthy had told the court that the Union Ministry of Finance had on November 26, 2024 instructed all nationalised/public sector banks to transfer women employees as far as possible to nearby places/stations/regions and to give due importance to safety and availability of basic amenities if they had to be transferred to faraway/remote locations.
Although it could be argued on behalf of UBI that the Finance Ministry's guidelines were only directory and not mandatory in nature, they do stipulate an obligation on the part of the bank to implement a transfer policy in conformity with the guidelines of the Centre, the judge said and reiterated that the present policies of the bank affect the women employees disproportionately.
Instead of a mandatory transfer from one zone to another after completion of nine years, 'I wonder why the respondents (UBI) could not put in place a system where at the end of six years, they place a red signal that the order retaining the officer for a further period of three years would be the final retention. If the officer is put on notice at the end of the sixth year, then, some adjustments within the family could be made,' the judge said.
He also said: 'I wonder why the respondents could not implement counseling before effecting the transfer. Counseling could involve consultations with mental health professionals as well as assessments by a medical team to address individual grievances and ensure the wellbeing of the affected employees.'
The judge went on to state: 'I wonder why the respondents could not put in place a system where individual officers are transferred within the zone and not necessarily out of a zone, even after they had worked for nine years in a particular place. I fail to see the rationale behind transferring an officer from one corner of the country to another, particularly given the diverse linguistic and cultural differences across States.'
He also wondered why UBI could not provide a longer time of 20 days, instead of just seven days, to join the new place of work and initiate disciplinary proceedings, only if the employee was found to have deliberately not reported to duty at the transferred place even after that extended period of time.
'These are measures that the respondents could implement if they were to apply their minds and recognize that the employees alone actually and ultimately contribute to furthering the business of the bank. It is the quality of service provided which encourages customers to recommend the bank to other customers. It is not just the services provided by the bank that matters, but also the manner in which those services are presented and marketed, which are also equally important,' the judge observed.
Conscious of the limitations of the court in interfering the with the transfer policies of a bank, the judge stopped with issuing a direction to UBI to revisit its policy by putting in place certain additional safeguards in order to prevent indirect discrimination of women and to promote equality. He said women employees transferred out of their place of residence must be allowed to visit home at regular intervals.
'Among the officers who could be exempted from transfer, the respondents may also consider including those whose children are at a crucial stage in their educational career. The respondents must establish an effective grievance redressal cell, ensuring that the majority of members are women. This cell should be responsible for examining individual grievances and making genuine efforts to address them,' he concluded.
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