Explained: Why is a transfer to Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh considered a ‘punishment’ posting for a bureaucrat?

Thyagraj Stadium in Delhi (File Picture)

Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sanjeev Khirwar, accused of getting a Delhi stadium vacated to walk his dog, was on Thursday night transferred to Ladakh. His wife Rinku Dhugga, also an IAS officer and who was spotted walking with her husband in the stadium, was transferred to Arunachal Pradesh.

The transfer order, issued by the Union home ministry, was perceived as ‘punishment’ for the IAS couple, yet many wondered why a posting to places like Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh is called a ‘punishment posting’ in the first place.

Why shame Arunachal by transferring errant Delhi bureaucrat there?
Why pay lip service to North East & then treat area like a dump for your rubbish, MHA?
Please protest @PemaKhanduBJP @KirenRijiju

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— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) May 26, 2022

The punishment rules

Who initiates disciplinary proceedings against a civil servant depends on whether the officer is posted on state or central deputation.

Typically, civil servants officers are assigned their ‘home cadres’ depending on a combination of their domicile, rank and vacancies in their home state, among others. If they do not meet these criteria, they are posted in other states. Officers on central deputation are those that are absorbed into central ministries. 

If an officer of a particular state cadre is posted in a state, the state government initiates disciplinary proceedings. The action may include suspension or a transfer within the state. In 2015, however, the Centre amended the rules to ensure that a bureaucrat cannot remain suspended for more than a week, unless allowed by the Union government.

READ | Who is Sanjeev Khirwar, IAS officer accused of getting Delhi stadium emptied to walk his dog

State governments cannot take any action in matters initiated by the Centre against officers posted on central deputation. In case of AGMUT cadre, the transfers can include states like Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories like J&K and Ladakh.

Actual ‘punishments’ are rare due to the protection given to civil servants under Article 311 of the Constitution. However, actions like transfers and effective demotions are counted as punishment.

The case of the AGMUT cadre

Khirwar and Dhugga are both 1994-batch IAS of the joint AGMUT cadre. In 2019 when the government scrapped Article 370, the Lok Sabha passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, merging the J&K cadre of All India Service Officers comprising IAS, Indian Police Service and Indian Foreign Service officers with that of the AGMUT cadre.

The northeast region and tough terrains like Ladakh have for long been considered a punishment posting not just for a civil servant but even for judges.  In 2019, the chief justice of the Madras High Court, Vijaya Tahilramani, reportedly resigned after she was transferred to the Meghalaya High Court. Kashish Mittal, a 2011-batch IAS officer, resigned in the same year after he was transferred from NITI Aayog in Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh. In 2014, then-governor of Maharashtra K Sankaranarayanan resigned from his governorship rather than accept a transfer to Mizoram.

Also, read | ‘Where will the dog go?' asks Twitter after IAS couple transferred amid Delhi stadium row

Clearly, then, the perception is that places like Ladakh and the northeastern regions are not preferred postings unlike, say, Delhi, apparently because of issues like remoteness, lack of connectivity and sparse health facilities. Not everyone agrees, of course.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was among the first to call out this bias, asking why Ladakh was deemed a punishment posting for Khirwar. “Why are people calling Ladakh a ‘punishment posting’? For one it’s a beautiful place with very hospitable people & some stunning places to visit and secondly it’s demoralising for the people there to be given the impression that officers only get sent as a punishment,” Abdullah said in a tweet.

Why are people calling Ladakh a “punishment posting”? For one it’s a beautiful place with very hospitable people & some stunning places to visit and secondly it’s demoralising for the people there to be given the impression that officers only get sent as a punishment.

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 26, 2022

There is a historical precedent to this practice, according to an article senior communicator Senjam Raj Sekhar wrote in The Print in September 2019.

“During the years when the sun never set on the British Empire, many officers were disciplined through punishment postings to colonies like India, Nigeria, East Africa, British Malaya and Aden. Similarly, France would transfer recalcitrant officials to their North African colonies like Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia,” Sekhar says in the article.

‘Hard’ and ‘regular’ areas

Areas administered by officers of the joint AGMUT cadre are divided into two categories—Category A or ‘regular areas’ (Delhi, Chandigarh, Goa, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu) and Category B or ‘hard areas’ (Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, J&K and Ladakh).

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) included the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh under the category of ‘hard areas’ for the joint AGMUT on January 18, 2022.

Officers posted in the ‘hard areas’ are given some additional incentives, as per the 2016 guidelines for transfer/posting of IAS/IPS officers of the joint AGMUT cadre. For instance, any member posted in these areas gets 40 days of leave in a year instead of the usual 30 days.

Also, read | IAS officer wanted to walk his dog and a Delhi stadium was vacated. Twitter is furious

The guidelines for officers posted in ‘hard areas’ mention special provisions of training abroad, elevation to the level of deputy secretary after completion of tenure in the area, and gradation incentives. These areas are far-flung, geographically dispersed and differ widely from each other climatically, linguistically, culturally and even administratively, the guidelines say