The Himachal Pradesh High Court has exposed a deeply concerning pattern of employees from the health and education departments manipulating the deputation system to remain in urban centers, particularly Shimla, while continuing to receive service benefits meant for difficult, tribal, and rural postings.
Court's Strong Observations on Deputation Abuse
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj expressed serious concern over what they described as "disturbing factors" in the current deputation practices. The court emphasized that this practice completely undermines the purpose of posting officials to rural and difficult areas for development work.
"The whole purpose as such of deputing official(s) for development and the sufferings of persons residing in rural/difficult areas is thus rendered ineffective," the bench underlined during the hearing of a public interest litigation.
Shocking Numbers Revealed in Affidavits
The issue came to light after compliance affidavits submitted by government authorities revealed extensive irregularities. The affidavits disclosed that 123 employees of the health department and 86 employees of the education department were found deputed at locations other than their official places of posting.
The court highlighted the manipulation pattern: "In sum and substance, on account of officials being posted in the hard, difficult, tribal, and rural areas, they are then again entitled to posting to urban areas like Shimla. Thus, for practically three postings, they would be managing to stay on at Shimla."
Systemic Flaws in Deputation Record-Keeping
In its earlier order, the court had sought clarification on whether deputation tenures were properly recorded in service files and whether employees could continue to claim transfer benefits based on their original postings despite extended deputations elsewhere.
Supplementary affidavits filed by the director of health services and the education secretary confirmed that deputation periods are not reflected in the service book of the concerned employee for future transfers. Instead, the duration is counted as time spent at the original posting, with only deputation orders retained in personal files.
The court found that this practice severely undermines the intent of the hard-area posting scheme and emphasized the urgent need for policy-level intervention to prevent further misuse of the system.
Court Directs Immediate Policy Correction
Recognizing the seriousness of the issue, the High Court directed that its order be brought to the notice of the chief secretary for issuing necessary instructions and policy corrections. The bench emphasized that this serious issue requires redressal at the larger level to ensure that development objectives for rural and tribal areas are not compromised.
The court's intervention highlights systemic failures in the deputation process that have allowed employees to bypass the intended rotation between difficult and urban postings, thereby depriving rural communities of essential services from experienced staff.
