RAJA SAEED AKRAM KHAN, J.---This petition for leave to appeal arises out of the judgment passed by the Service Tribunal on 25-1-2012 whereby the appeal filed by the appellant, herein, has been dismissed.
2. The facts giving rise to the instant petition for leave to appeal are that the petitioner, who is working as Computer Lab Assistant, has been transferred from Government Model Science College, Mirpur, to Government Girls Degree College Islamgarh vide order dated 19-10-2011 in place of private respondent No,3. The transfer order was assailed through Service Appeal No, 944 of 2011 before the Service Tribunal. The appeal was admitted for regular hearing and the transfer order was suspended till the disposal of the appeal. After hearing the appeal, the learned Service Tribunal dismissed the appeal vide impugned judgment dated 25-1-2012 which is the subject of this petition for leave to appeal.
3. Meer Sharafat Hussain, the learned counsel for the petitioner, has submitted that the judgment passed by the Service Tribunal is against law, facts of the case and contrary to the approved transfer policy which was promulgated on the direction of this Court. The learned Service Tribunal ignored the fact that the petitioner, who is a female employee, has been transferred within 10 months period to a far-flung area of Mirpur. The petitioner is young female low paid employee and it is very difficult for her to serve lonely in Government Degree College Islamgarh. He urged that the learned Service Tribunal has also not taken into consideration that the petitioner and respondent No, 3 do not belong to teaching staff; rather both are Computer Lab Assistants which is a clerical job. Most of the Lab Assistants in the Education Department are male; therefore, the reasons given in the judgment are not sustainable which are based on erroneous assumptions. Even otherwise there is coeducation in the Government Model Science College; therefore, the ground on which the appeal has been dismissed is contrary to the fact. If a male employee cannot be deputed in a female institution, then why respondent No,3 has been transferred to Model Science College in which the female students are also studying. The learned counsel lastly argued that the points raised before the Service Tribunal were not properly attended, therefore, the judgment of the Service Tribunal does not fall within the meaning of a 'judgment' of the Court or an Administrative Tribunal. The transfer order is based on mala fide intention just to victimize the petitioner as appears from the impugned judgment that the transfer order has been passed within 10 months.
According to the policy with regard to transfer and posting, which has been formulated in view of the dictum laid down by this Court, minimum stay at one station is fixed as 3 years. The judgment of the Service Tribunal is also violative of the law laid down by this Court which is liable to be set aside.
4. On the other hand, Mr. Raza Ali Khan, the learned counsel for respondent No, 3, has supported the judgment of the Service Tribunal and submitted that the impugned judgment is perfect and in accordance with the dictum laid down by this Court. He argued that under the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Civil Servants Act, 1976, nobody can claim as a matter of right to stay at a particular station. Every civil servant is liable to serve anywhere under the Government. He submitted that the impugned transfer order was passed in the interest of administration. Even otherwise, there was demand of the people of the vicinity that in Government Girls Degree College, Islamgarh, a female Computer Lab Assistant should be posted. Lastly he argued that the transfer has been made within the same district which is at a distance of 20 minutes' drive.
5. I have heard the arguments, perused the record and also gone through the impugned judgment.
It is admitted position that the petitioner has been posted/ transferred in a female institution against the post of Computer Lab Assistant. It is also apparent from the record that in compliance of transfer order, both the transferees have joined their new places of posting and started performing their duties. Islamgarh is not a far-flung area of Mirpur but it is situated in district Mirpur. I could not find anything from the record that any element of political victimization is there.
Even otherwise under section 9 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Civil Servants Act, 1976, every civil servant shall be liable to serve anywhere within or outside Azad Jammu and Kashmir in any post under the Government. In this regard reliance is placed on a case reported as Muhammad Fazil v.
Kishwar Sikandar and 6 others 2004 PLC (C.S.) 1047 wherein it has been observed as under:-- ' It is correct that through the impugned Notification dated 14-11-2002, the policy for staying for two years at a station, has been violated and male member has been posted in female institution which action of the official respondents is against the pronouncements of this Court. Mst. Kishwar Sikandar, according to the record, has served out of her home station for more than 10 years.
Almost whole of service of Mst. Kishwar Sikandar prior to posting as A.E.O. Was completed out of her home station which is Sehnsa. This Court has laid down a principle in its various pronouncements that no male member shall be posted and transferred in female institutions unless it is proved that female member is not available to hold the job."
'Similarly in a case reported as Fayyaz Ahmad v. Government of the Punjab (1991 PLC (C.S) 153), it has been held at page 154 as under:-- "(6) The petitioner is a civil servant and in accordance with section 9 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974, he is liable to be posted anywhere. He has no vested right to serve at a particular station.
There is neither any violation of law or rules warranting interference in the Constitutional jurisdiction."
6. The argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the Service Tribunal has not dilated upon all the points raised in the appeal has no footing as the only question involved in the appeal was as to whether in a female institution a male employee can be transferred. As has been held by this Court in the case titled Muhammad Fazil v. Kishwar Sikandar and 6 others 2004 PLC (C.S.) 1047, referred to above, a male employee cannot be transferred and posted in a female institution.
Therefore, in my view the crucial question involved in the appeal was properly attended to and answered in view of the pronouncements of this Court.
7. The next argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner is regarding the stay of a civil servant on one station. There is no cavil with the proposition that this Court as well as the Supreme Court of Pakistan has held time and again that normal tenure of stay of a civil servant at one station should not be less than three years. However, in the exigencies of the service a transfer can be made. It is also celebrated principle of law that postings and transfers exclusively fall under the discretion and domain of competent authority but such discretion must not be exercised in an arbitrary or fanciful manner rather the same should be exercised judiciously and in accordance with the settled norms of justice, equity and fairplay. In a case titled Zahid Akhtar v. Government of Punjab through Secretary, Local Government and Rdral Development, Lahore and 2 others (PLD 1995 SC 530), it has been held as under:- ' The normal period of posting of a Government servant at a station, according to the above referred policy decision of the Government, is 3 years, which has to be followed in the ordinary circumstances, unless for reasons of exigencies of services mentioned in the aforesaid policy of Government, a transfer before expiry of 3 years' period becomes necessary in the opinion of competent Authority."
' In the light of what has been stated above, finding no force in this petition for leave to appeal, it is dismissed with no order as to the costs. Since the petition for leave to appeal is dismissed, the interim injunction issued on 30-1-2012 also stands recalled.