Bengaluru, Sep 1: The Karnataka High Court has reiterated that "no transfer must be made except to a vacant post" and reinstated a Municipal officer who was transferred in December last year.

Murthy Halaiah, chief officer of Hanur Town Municipal Council, was transferred on December 23, 2021 but for the next six months, he was not given a posting. However on the same day of his transfer, another officer, Paramashivaiah, was posted to the position served by Halaiah till then, who challenged this in the HC.

When the case was pending, he was given a posting on July 20, 2022 to the Town Municipal Council, Ullal. Halaiah's advocate Pavana Chandra Shetty argued before Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav that as per a Division Bench order in 'M Arun Prasad Vs The Commissioner of Excise' case, it is a settled position in law that a transfer without showing place of posting would suffer from legal malafide.

The bench accepted this argument and also noted that the same was reiterated in another case, 'Mahboob Sab Vs State of Karnataka' recently. Justice Yadav also noted that the Government had issued two circulars in 2017, which stipulate that if any government servant is not given a posting, the reasons must be recorded in writing.

The HC set aside the transfer order of Halaiah and directed him and Paramashivaiah to be placed in the position prior to the impugned order.

The court also directed the State for "strict compliance with its own circulars as well as directions passed in the earlier HC judgments".

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Belthangady: A case has been registered at Dharmasthala police station against Girish Mattannavar over a complaint regarding alleged defamatory posts on social media against Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala.

The complaint was filed by Subrahmanya Prasad, a resident of Dharmasthala.

The complainant stated that Mattannavar posted content on Instagram making allegations against Dr. Heggade and allegedly affecting his reputation.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which is related to spreading false information, rumours, or alarming news, on April 18, and the investigation is in progress.

Following information about Mattannavar’s appearance at the SIT office on May 7, a police officer from Dharmasthala police station issued a notice directing him to appear at the station within a week.