D K Shivakumar.
Credit: DH Photo/B K Janardhan
In a setback for Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday stayed the transfer of 17 BBMP officials, including health inspectors and engineers.
In a letter to the Urban Development Department (UDD), Shivakumar had recommended the transfers.
Hearing a petition filed by senior health inspector Anis Fathima, whose name was on the transfer list, Justice NS Sanjay Gowda passed an order that Annexure E (the DyCM's letter to the UDD) should not come into effect till the next date of hearing.
The court's stay order comes at a time when the BBMP is seeing back-to-back transfers in different departments, mostly based on recommendations of either the chief minister or his deputy.
In an order issued in November 2021, the court had observed that interference in transfers amounts to politicisation of public office, resulting in putting efficient and good administration to peril.