The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the transfer of senior bureaucrats and police officials by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after announcing the Assembly elections.
While dismissing the PIL, a bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen said that the ECI had taken administrative decisions to transfer officers and the scope of judicial review is limited in such matters.
The ECI had transferred 23 IAS and police officers after announcing elections for the Bengal Assembly on March 15, 2026.
Advocate Arka Kumar Nag had filed the PIL seeking quashing of transfer orders. The petitioner argued that the large-scale transfer of officers, including the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, DGP, and several district magistrates, was arbitrary.
But the bench refused to interfere with the transfer orders while remarking that the judgment will not come in the way of the aggrieved individual officers challenging their transfer orders.
The court noted that the petitioner had not pleaded regarding any breach of any legislation passed by the Centre or the state, nor did the petition plead that the commission did not have the authority or jurisdiction to shift or transfer officers.
The bench further remarked that a similar or greater number of transfers/postings of officers had taken place nationwide, and merely because the ECI had transferred a sizable number of officers, it cannot be said that the action is arbitrary, capricious, or mala fide.
The Bengal govt had denounced the transfers of bureaucrats holding crucial positions in the state on the eve of elections as an arbitrary act aimed at disrupting governance. The Mamata Banerjee govt went on to charge the Election Commission with acting with malicious intentions.
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