The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition filed by a group of government doctors challenging their transfer orders from Bengaluru to other parts of Karnataka, remarking that the city’s cosmopolitan appeal cannot be a valid ground to resist transfers.
A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and K. Vinod Chandran observed that there was no legal prejudice caused to the doctors by their transfers and emphasised the equitable need for medical services across the state.
“The cosmopolitan life of Bangalore is very alluring. Other areas of Karnataka are also developed. You are a privileged class of society. If you will oppose transfer, what will happen to others?” the bench noted, declining to interfere with the Karnataka High Court’s order.
The petitioners, comprising medical officers in government service, had moved the apex court against the Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Medical Officers and other Staff) Rules, 2025. The rules govern transfers within the Health and Family Welfare Department and were framed under Section 12 of the Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Medical Officers and other Staff) Act, 2011.
Earlier, the Karnataka High Court had refused to stay the implementation of the new transfer rules, holding that the state was well within its powers to notify them and that no specific timeline was mandated between publishing a draft and finalising the rules.
Before the Supreme Court, the petitioners argued that the draft rules gave them only a week to file objections, which was insufficient. They also contended that the final rules introduced the concept of “Greater Bengaluru,” which was absent in the draft and, therefore, impermissible.
However, the top court dismissed the arguments, signalling that transfer policies—especially in public service—must be guided by administrative need rather than personal convenience.
