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HIGH COURT OF DELHI
W.P.(C) 11526/2025 & CM APPL. 47170/2025
SUDHEER KUMAR .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Abhay Kumar Bhargava, Mr. Satyaarth Sinha and Ms. Khushi, Advs.
Through: Mr. Gaurav Sharma, SPC for UOI
Officer and Mr. Vinod, Legal Officer, CRPF.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE OM PRAKASH SHUKLA
JUDGMENT
08.08.2025 C. HARI SHANKAR, J.
1. The petitioner is posted as Inspector (Ministerial) in the Gazetted Officers’ Entitlement Branch, Directorate General, CRPF, New Delhi.
2. Vide order dated 11 January 2025, the petitioner’s tenure at the Gazetted Officers’ Entitlement Cell[1] was extended till 9 January 2026, after approval of the competent authority. “GOEC” hereinafter
3. During the aforesaid period of extension, an order was issued on 9 April 2025, transferring as many as 33 officers/officials to various other postings. The petitioner’s name figures at Serial No. 24. Column 5 of the transfer order is headed “Transfer/Allotted Type”. The transfer order makes it clear that, in respect of all the 33 officers covered by the transfer order, the transfer is on administrative reasons. In the last column, against the petitioner’s name, under the head “Remarks”, the following has been entered: “Official presently attached with GOS Entt. Cell Adm Branch, Dte. Attachment extension if any granted to the Official is hereby cancelled and he is stand relieved from attachment duty w.e.f 01/06/2025.”
4. The petitioner represented against the aforesaid transfer order in May 2025, seeking that he be transferred to one of the other Battalions located in Bantalab, Pinjore, Jalandhar, Gwalior, Rampur or any other Delhi-NCR based unit. He sought a personal audience, which was rejected.
5. Thereafter, the following order dated 11 July 2025 was passed (extracted to the extent it applies to the petitioner): “ORDER Following officials have taken Personal Audience of IG (Pers) in connection with transfer / retention. Their cases have been examined vis-a-vis their PPPs, Transfer Policy, Grounds of Request, Vacancy Position as well as other administrative & operational feasibility / constraints of the Force and orders of the Competent authority are mentioned against each as under:-
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Sl. Name, UNIT Request of Date Deciding Remarks │ │ No. Rank, Force the Authority │ │ No Officer │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 2 SUDHEER GC- Transfer 10/07/2025 IG Official is │ │ KUMAR, AJM- to 06 (Pers)Dte presently │ │ INSP MIN, 2 BN/16 attached │ │ 911530273 BN/51 with GOs │ │ BN/63 Entt Section │ │ BN/84 and under │ │ BN/GC order of │ │ BTB/GC transfer on │ │ PJR/GC de- │ │ JDR/GC attachment │ │ GWL/GC to 20 BN. │ │ RPR or His instant │ │ any Delhi request │ │ NCR considered │ │ based but could │ │ office(s)/ not be │ │ Unit(s). acceded to │ │ due to │ │ administrati │ │ -ve and │ │ functional │ │ requirement │ │ of the Force. │ │ Official may │ │ please be │ │ relieved │ │ immediately │ │ for new │ │ place of │ │ posting. │ │ 02. Reference :: Personal Audience of IG (Pers) dated │ │ 10/07/2025. │ │ All concerned Unit/Office are directed to inform the above │ │ personnel accordingly.” │ │ 6. Thus, the petitioner’s representation has been rejected with │ │ reasons. It is stated that his request could not be considered owing to │ │ administrative and functional requirements of the CRPF. │ │ 7. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner has instituted the present writ │ │ petition, seeking quashing of the order transferring him to Assam. │ │ 8. One of the contentions of the petitioner was that he had not got │ │ W.P.(C) 11526/2025 │ │ Signature Not Verified Page 3 of 7 │ │ Signed By:GUNN │ │ an opportunity to provide 28 choices of postings on the │ │ SAMBHAV/SANTOS App, which was usually provided to officers │ │ who were intended to be transferred as per Circular dated 31 March │ │ 2022 issued by the Director General2, CRPF. │ │ 9. Mr. Gaurav Sharma, learned SPC for the respondents has │ │ pointed out that the aforesaid circular applies only to Summer Chain │ │ Transfers and that the petitioner was not a Summer Chain Transfer. │ │ 10. We find this submission of Mr. Sharma, to the effect that │ │ Circular dated 31 March 2022 applies only to Summer Chain │ │ Transfers, to be correct. We may, for ready reference, reproduce the │ │ initial paras of the guidelines contained in the said circular, thus: │ │ “Guidelines for SANTOS:- │ │ (I) For Individual │ │ “SANTOS” menu has been integrated with "Sambhav" │ │ mobile application. Login into "Sambhav" with your User │ │ ID/Password, if you are in transfer list. Following menu would be │ │ available to you:- │ │ (i) Hardship score │ │ (ii) Eligible Units/Establishments │ │ (iii) Ineligible Units/Establishments │ │ (iv) Record choices │ │ (v) View/Revise choices │ │ After opening "SANTOS" menu in your mobile click on the │ │ menu option. Check your hardship score on clicking sub menu │ │ “See hardship Score”. Check your hardship score and then click │ │ on Sub menu "Eligible Units/Establishments" and check your │ │ eligibility for transfer to Unit/establishments. Then click on │ │ “Record Choice" sub-menu for filling up choices for SCT-2022. │ │ “DG”, hereinafter │ │ W.P.(C) 11526/2025 │ │ Signature Not Verified Page 4 of 7 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
C. HARI SHANKAR, J
OM PRAKASH SHUKLA, J AUGUST 8, 2025