JUDGMENT : 1. The instant Letters Patent Appeal is directed against the order of learned Single Judge dated 25.11.2016, where under learned Single Judge quashed the transfer order No. Pr. CC/CHD/CB-III/T&P/Group A/2016-17/1182 dated 31.08.2016, so for it relates to respondent No. 1 with further direction to the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner/respondent No. 1 herein, for his posting in the station of his choice, afresh and issue appropriate orders thereon within a period of eight weeks from the date copy of the order is served upon them. For a period of eight weeks or till the time the decision is made, petitioner/respondent No. 1 shall be allowed to continue at his present place of posting. The Central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) are challenging the order on the premise that the learned Single Judge had not considered the guidelines on transfer and placement of the Officers of Indian Revenue Services, issued on 16th February 2010, as well as the Guidelines for transfer of Group-A Officers in the proper perspective. The Guidelines provides as follows:- TRANSFER GUIDELINES FOR GROUP 'A' OFFICERS WITHIN NEW REGION. The Transfer Guidelines for Group "A" officers within North West Region (NWR) in consonance with Transfer/Placement Guidelines (IRS): 2010 issued by CBDT vide letter F. No. HRD/PM/444/2/2008-09, dated 16.02.2010 are as follows:- Local Placement Committee: There shall be a Local Placement Committee who will consider intra-region transfers of Group 'A' officers below the rank of Commissioner. The committee shall consist of: i. Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. p ii. DGIT(Inv) iii. All other Chief Commissioners of the region. The minutes of each meeting of the Local Placement Committee shall be drawn up and approved by all members within 24 hours of the meeting. All postings by the Local Placement Committee will be in accordance with transfer guidelines issued by CBDT vide letter dated 16.02.2010. Transfer on Stay Basis: (a) For transfers on stay basis all the stations in the Region may be categorized as under: S. No. Category Description (i) Specified Stations: S1 Chandigarh; Ludhiana; Amritsar (ii) Non-Specified Stations: S2 Stations which are not specified (iii) Hard Station : S3 Srinagar (iv) Difficult Stations : S4 Mandi; Palampur; Shimla 2. Transfer on Stay Basis: (a) For transfers on stay basis all the stations in the Region may be categorized as under: S. No. Category Description (i) Specified Stations: S1 Chandigarh; Ludhiana; Amritsar (ii) Non-Specified Stations: S2 Stations which are not specified (iii) Hard Station : S3 Srinagar (iv) Difficult Stations : S4 Mandi; Palampur; Shimla 2. The learned Single Judge is of the view that the aforesaid guidelines have not been considered in proper perspective and therefore, accepting the plea of 1st respondent Ghulam Mustaffa, quashed the transfer order. 3. The brief facts relevant to the case is as follows:- The 1st and 2nd respondents were serving in Srinagar as Income Tax Officers and they became eligible for promotion as Assistant Commissioners of Income Tax, that is to say promotion from Group-B to Group-A, at that time they are entitled to appropriate posting, governed by the Transfer/placement guidelines of 2010 dated 16th February 2010 as well as transfer guidelines Group-A region North West Region (NWR). 4. According to the 1st respondent he gave choice of three places, one is Srinagar and the other Jammu, and another respondent, Nooruddin, also gave three choices, i.e., one Srinagar and two other places. The Authority accorded consideration and posted Shri Nooruddin as Assistant Commissioner (Income tax Investigation) Srinagar and Shri Ghulam Mustaffa was posted as Assistant Commissioner Central Circle Jammu. 5. Aggrieved by posting order as above, writ petition was filed by the 1st respondent, Shri Ghulam Mustafa, pleading that the guidelines have not been properly considered. Further it was pleaded in the writ petition that at the time when his case came up for consideration for the post of Group-A Officers he was having less than 3 years of service and therefor he has a right to request for posting in a place of his choice. Since his request was not been considered and writ petition came to be filed and the learned Single Judge was inclined to quash the transfer order and directing the respondent authority to reconsider the issue for posting, the first respondent in the place of his choice, that is Srinagar. 6. Heard Mr. Kawoosa, for appellant Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Mr. Z.A. Shah, Sr. Adv. for the respondent No. 1. Also heard Mr. B.A. Dar, AAG for respondent No. 2. 7. 6. Heard Mr. Kawoosa, for appellant Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Mr. Z.A. Shah, Sr. Adv. for the respondent No. 1. Also heard Mr. B.A. Dar, AAG for respondent No. 2. 7. The controversy in this appeal revolves around the interpretation of clause 2, 3 & 4 of the 2010, Guidelines dated 16th February 2010. The Transfer/Placement Guidelines for officers of the Indian Revenue Service Central Board of Direct Taxes 2010, is a follows:- The Placement Committee 2.1(i) The placement Committee of the Board shall consist of the following: Chairman of the Board; Member (Personnel and Vigilance); and The senior-most Member of the Board. The Joint Secretary (Admn) in the Board will act as its Secretary. The Zonal members shall be consulted by the placement Committee before finalizing the transfers/postings. (ii) The Placement Committee of the Board will: (a) Recommend proposals for posting of Chief Commissioners/Directors General and Commissioners/Directors for approval of the Finance Minister, through the revenue Secretary and Minister of State for Finance (Revenue); and (b) Be the final authority for transfer and allocation to the region of each Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax of officers below the rank of Commissioner. After the proposals are drawn up and approved by the Board, the Chairman shall consult MOS. before giving effect to transfer proposals. In one of deviations from these guidelines, approval of Finance Minister through the Revenue Secretary and Minister of State for Finance (Revenue) shall obtained. 2.2(i) In each region under a cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of income Tax there shall be a Local Placement Committee consisting of: (a) Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax: (b) DGIT (Investigation); and (c) The senior most Chief Commissioner whose jurisdiction talks within the region of the Cadre Controlling CCIT in respect of CCTT Regions at Stations listed in 43(i) (a); and all the other Chief Commissioners in case of other Regions. (ii) The Local Placement Committee will consider the intra-region transfers of officers below the rank of Commissioner. All postings by the Local Placement Committee will be in accordance with the provisions of these guidelines. 2.3. The minutes of each meeting of the Placement Committee shall be drawn up, approved by all Members within 24 hours of the meeting (not by circulation). 3. All postings by the Local Placement Committee will be in accordance with the provisions of these guidelines. 2.3. The minutes of each meeting of the Placement Committee shall be drawn up, approved by all Members within 24 hours of the meeting (not by circulation). 3. POSTING GUIDELINES FOR OFFICERS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS: 3.1 For officers of the rank of Chief Commissioners/Directors General Commissioners/Directors the placement Committee of the Board will recommend the Region and Station for approval. 3.2 For officer below the rank of Commissioner, the Placement Committee of the Board will place the officers at the disposal of the cadre controlling Chief Commissioner for further posting. 3.3 On promotion, Group- 'A' officers will normally be transferred out of the Region, except were they have come to that Region less than two years earlier. However, they may be entertained for the balance period of tenure at the place of their posting, subject to the availability of vacancies. 3.4 Group 'B' officers on promotion to the grade of ACIT shall be transferred out of the Region except in those cases where the officers has less than three years of service left the time of promotion. 3.5 Officers who have 3 years or less service left shall be posted to the Station/Region of their choice to the extent possible. 3.6 As for as possible, the senior-most Commissioners at any station may be posted as Administrative Commissioners. 4. REGION AND TENURE. 4.1 For the purpose of these Transfer Guidelines, the jurisdiction of each Cadre Controlling Chief Commissioner of Income Tax shall be treated as a separate Region. 4.2 The Total stay of an officer during the course of his entire career, in all grades (in Group 'A' Service), including and up to the grade of Commissioner of Income Tax, in a particular Region shall not exceed eighteen years in field postings, and twenty-four years and all including periods spent on exempt posts/deputation. 4.3 (i) All group 'A' officers (subject to 4.4) below, shall be liable for transfer at the commencement of the Financial year, if they have as on 31st December of the preceding year completed in field posting- (a) 3 years of continuous stay in field postings in the following eight metropolitan stations; New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata. (b) 5 years of continuous stay in field postings in respect of the following stations: Amritsar, Baroda, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Surat, Visakhapatnam. (c) 3 years of continuous stay in field postings in respect of other stations. 5. In accordance with the para 2.1(i) the placement Committee of the Board has been formed in respect of each region. We are concerned with the transfers and postings of Assistant Commissioners in relation to Grade-A Officers of NWR. The guidelines speaks as follows:- "The minutes of each meeting of the Local Placement Committee shall be drawn up and approved by all members within 24 hours of the meeting. All postings by the Local Placement Committee will be in accordance with the transfer guidelines issued by CBDT vide letter dated 16.02.2010". 6. On the basis of the guidelines, it is evident that Group-B officers on promotion to the Group-A shall be transferred out of the Region except in those cases where the officer has less than three years of service at the time of promotion. 7. The 1st respondent satisfies the condition of less than three years and he need not be posted out the region. This is so because Clause 3.5 provides that the officers who have 3 years or less service left shall be posted to the Station/Region of their choice to the extent possible. The case of the 1st respondent would come within the ambit of the above guidelines. In so far as the posting within a region is concerned annexure--L5 page 73 to the appeal are the Guidelines, provides for the categorization of different regions. 8. In the present case on going through the transfer Guidelines of Group 'A' Officers of NER, it is clear that NWR consists of Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar Stations, Srinagar, Mandi, Palampur, Shimla and stations not specified. 8. The plea of 1st respondent that he should be allowed to stay in the NWR region of his choice and cannot be transferred to another region because he has less than 3 years of service is justified and to that extent the plea of learned Sr. counsel is tenable. 8. The plea of 1st respondent that he should be allowed to stay in the NWR region of his choice and cannot be transferred to another region because he has less than 3 years of service is justified and to that extent the plea of learned Sr. counsel is tenable. However, within the region there are stations and which stations respondent No. 1 will work (i.e.,) S; 1, S; 2 and S; 4 would be the choice of local placement Committee who will considered in the case of Officers of intra-region. The 1st respondent has no say in so far posting intra region (i.e.) in different stations as specified above. 9. In this case a decision has been taken by the local placement committee and the 1st respondent has been transferred to income tax circle, Jammu and the 2nd respondent has been posted as Assistant Commissioner, income tax (investigation Srinagar). These are stations within the North West Region. The plea that Clause 3, 3.4 & 3.5 has been violated is therefore not correct. This is not a case of transfer to another region. It is intra region transfer from one station to another. This is permissible as per guidelines. 10. The 1st respondent cannot claim place of posting to a specific region/station as a matter of right that discretion is of the Placement Committee. The guidelines have been correctly followed. The posting is to another stations intra region and hence in order. 11. In this view of the matter, we are inclined to set-aside the order of learned Single Judge. Appeal is accordingly allowed and the order of learned Single Judge dated 25.11.2016, is set-aside. The appeal stands disposed of.