JUDGEMENT M.R. Verma, J. (Retd.), Chairman (Oral).: By this original application the applicant who is a Work Inspector in the Public Works Department in Rohroo Division has been transferred to Shillai Division in public interest vide Annexure-A/1 has assayed the said order of transfer on the grounds that the transfer is arbitrary, punitive and without any public interest or administrative exigency. 2. The respondents filed reply claiming that the application is not maintainable and that Courts/Tribunals are not expected to interfere in the working of the administrative system by transferring the officers/officials to proper places and as per service jurisprudence transfer and posting of employee is the prerogative of the Government, therefore the present application is not maintainable and since the applicant has not exhausted the remedy available to him, therefore, the application is premature also. On merits it is alleged that the impugned transfer has been made with the approval of competent authority and the applicant could be transferred anywhere in the State, therefore, the applicant is not entitled for any relief. 3. We have heard the learned counsel for the applicant and learned Deputy Advocate General for the respondents. 4. A perusal of the transfer order Annexure-A/1 on the face of it reveals that the transfer is arbitrary, punitive and in violation of the rules of natural justice. No doubt, in the 1st para of the order it is stated that this transfer is in public interest The second para whereby it has been ordered that the applicant will not be entitled to TTA/Joining time and will also loose the seniority of his parent circle and will attain fresh seniority in the circle to which he is transferred from the date of joining evidently is punitive. Apparently, it is not a normal orders of transfer as the applicant has not only been deprived of transfer travelling allowance and joining time but also of his seniority in his parent Circle and has been ordered to be made the juniormost in the Circle to which he has been transferred. The employer i.e. the Government undisputedly have a right to transfer its employees from one place to other in the public interest and in view of the exigency of service. The employer i.e. the Government undisputedly have a right to transfer its employees from one place to other in the public interest and in view of the exigency of service. Neither in the impugned transfer order nor in the reply of the respondents it is reflected as to what was that public interest or what was the exigency of service that the applicant had to be transferred from his present place of posting to a distant place that too without giving him the TTA or Joining time and passing orders depriving him of the seniority in his parent circle and to order counting of his seniority in the new Circle from the date he would have joined there. The order is not only arbitrary but smacks of malafides. 5. The order apparently is punitive and deprive the applicant not only of transfer travelling allowance and joining time but also deprives him of the seniority gained by him with the passage of time in his parent Circle and admittedly this penal order has been passed without issuing a show cause notice, or affording an opportunity of being hear to the applicant. The order thus is show violative of the principle of natural justice i.e. audi-alteram-partem and is not sustainable. 6. In view of the above, this application is allowed and impugned order is quashed and set aside.