On the "sudden" and "shocking" transfer orders issued by The English and Foreign Languages University to two of its faculty members on November 22, the varsity stated that the "transfer is not a penal action".
It may be recalled that on November 22, transfer orders were issued to two faculty members: Dr Srinivas Reddy Lankala, who is now the president-elect of the EFLU Teachers' Association (EFLUTA) and Prof Suvarna Lakshmi, the returning officer of the EFLUTA elections. This was right before the EFLUTA elections, as announced by the body and stated in a press release dated November 23.
What the varsity says
Via a November 25 communique shared with EdexLive regarding the report 'EFLU: Right before teachers association elections, shared two professors received transfer orders', the varsity invoked a recent case filed against the university, during which, the Telangana High Court had settled that, "Transfer is an incidence of service".
"Any public institution can affect transfer of the employees in view of the expedient needs and considerations on the administrative grounds. It is for information that transfers made by any Public Authority or Institution do not require prior consultation nor information to the public servant," said the statement.
"On an earlier occasion when the Executive Council affected the transfer of a teacher, the Hon'ble High Court of Telangana has allowed the action of the Executive Council restating the Apex Court's judgement that 'Transfer is an incidence of service'," the statement mentioned.
"Could have been discussed...," says faculty member
"I do not see any serious reason behind giving transfer orders, particularly before the elections of the association. It was shocking to see these orders, particularly when the faculty member was supposed to be the returning officer to conduct the TA elections the next day," says one of the faculty members of EFLU.
"Also, the transfer orders don't say which department they are transferred to and what is the purpose of transferring them, except that it says very vaguely "on administrative grounds",' says the faculty member.
The faculty member also mentions, "They were not recruited for administrative positions, they were recruited for teaching positions. And if there was anything related to teaching aspects it could have been discussed in person or at least in an academic meeting and then a decision could have been taken, but that did not happen."
FIRs and showcase notices
It may be recalled that after the October 18 sexual assault on campus, students launched a series of protests seeking justice for the survivor and a hunger strike as well. The varsity issued FIRs to several students and showcase notices as well.
