West Bengal School Service Commission (General Transfer, Transfer on Special Grounds and Reallocation) Rules, 2015

GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
School Education Department
Secondary Branch

No. 159-SE/S/1S-4/95 (Part) – 27th February, 2015

NOTIFICATION

In exercise of the power conferred by section 17, read with sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 10B, of the West Bengal School Service Commission Act, 1997 (West Ben. Act IV of 1997), and in supersession of the West Bengal School Service Commission (General Transfer) Rules, 2013, issued with this Department notification No. 1325-SE/S/1S-4/95, dated the 3rd October, 2013, published in the Kolkata Gazette, Extraordinary, PART-I, dated the 8th October, 2013, the Governor is pleased hereby to make the following rules, namely:-

Rules

1. Short title and commencement

(1) These rules may be called the West Bengal School Service Commission (General Transfer, Transfer on Special Grounds and Reallocation) Rules, 2015.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Definitions

(1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) “Act” means the West Bengal School Service Commission Act, 1997 (West Ben. Act IV of 1997);

(b) “Central Commission” means the West Bengal Central School Service Commission constituted under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Act;

(c) “Confirmed” means confirmation in service by the School Managing Committee or the Administrator of a school of an employee who has rendered satisfactory service after being appointed in a normal vacancy and in the case of an additional post, if the Managing Committee of the school or the Administrator confirms the service of the employee after receipt of retention order of the post from the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) or the Director of School Education, West Bengal;

(d) “Distance” means radial distance in kilometers from the place of residence and to the place of posting recorded in the recommendation letter issued by the West Bengal School Service Commission or recorded in the Service Book;

(e) “Form” means a Form appended to these rules;

(f) “General Transfer” means transfer of an employee of a school from his present place of posting in a school to another place in same category of vacancy, subject and post in another school;

(g) “Incumbent” means a teacher or a non-teaching staff of a school of any category including librarian of a school;

(h) “Non-teaching staff” means an employee who is not directly involved in teaching but, acts as a part of supporting system to the teaching and includes librarian;

(i) “Reallocation of service” means withdrawal of service on special ground for transfer and to place the service with or without post in a new school;

(j) “Regional Commission” means the West Bengal Regional School Service Commissions constituted under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Act;

(k) “Same category of post” means same post like Assistant Teacher or the Librarian or Clerical Staff and includes Clerk or Group-D or Peon or Laboratory Attendant or Night Guard or Matron, as the case may be;

(l) “Same Category of vacancy” means vacancy in same type of posts like reserved for women (only for girls’ school) and includes the same group under the staff pattern or same subject and same qualification, such as, Pass Graduate or Honours/ Post Graduate post etc., and also medium of instruction;

(m) “Teacher” means an Assistant Teacher of a school recognized as such by the Board or Council, as the case may be, and includes the Headmaster or Headmistress, Assistant Headmaster or the Assistant Headmistress for the purpose of these rules. However Assistant Headmaster/Assistant Headmistress may seek transfer as Assistant Teacher.

(2) Words and expressions used and not defined in these rules but defined in the Act, shall have the same meanings as respectively assigned to them in the Act or in the said rules thereunder.

3. Primary condition of General Transfer

(1) An incumbent shall be eligible for General Transfer only if he/she is confirmed in service and completed 5 (five) years of satisfactory service in that particular school and in particular post from which he/she seeks General Transfer. Experience, if any, in the previous school and in the previous post except the experience in the post and school from which he/she is applying, shall not be considered while counting the experience in terms of score.

(2) No application under General Transfer shall be entertained if he/she intends to get transferred to a school within a distance of 25 KMs from the present school.

(3) Where an incumbent refuses to join his/her preferred school after due recommendation by the Commission, such incumbent concerned shall not be allowed to submit application for three subsequent terms of General Transfer including intra-regional and inter-regional transfer:

Provided that an incumbent whose name has been recommended for General Transfer before coming into force of these rules, the application of such an incumbent for General Transfer shall not be disallowed under these rules.

(4) The General Transfer under these rules shall be available once in a year and a list shall be published in the website of the Central Commission and the remaining vacancies due to non-joining after publication of the list shall not be included in the list of the General Transfer under these rules for the next year and such vacancies may be considered for the purpose of General Transfer afresh.

4. General Transfer on Special ground

1) An incumbent belonging to the following categories may apply for transfer on any of the special grounds, namely:-

a) Any teacher or non-teaching staff or his/her son/daughter or spouse suffering from malignant diseases, heart diseases, renal failure, thalassemia, replacement of organ, serious gynecological disorder or physically disablement of 40% or more or to assist in proper treatment of self or his/her son/daughter or spouse;

b) Any women teacher or non-teaching staff whose husband died prematurely or divorced or is a victim of crime;

c) Teachers or non-teaching staff serving in Aided/Sponsored schools where the serving places of the spouses are away beyond 50 KMs.

(2) In respect of special ground mentioned in clause (a) of sub-rule (1), the State Government may cause medical enquiry for satisfaction on urgency of transfer of a teacher.

(3) In respect of special ground Victim of crime mentioned in clause (b) of sub-rule (1), the application may be considered, where FIR has been lodged and case has been instituted.

(4) In respect of special ground mentioned in clause (c) of sub-rule (1), 10% of the applications on this special grounds shall be considered by the West Bengal School Service Commission for recommendation in a year on receiving applications after publication of notice of General Transfer and Only one member of the spouse may apply for general transfer under this special ground and priority shall be given to the senior most applicant serving maximum period in the present place of posting at a maximum distance to the proposed place of posting in comparison to others.

5. Eligibility for General Transfer

(1) Any Teacher or non-teaching staff qualified as per provision of rule 3 of this Rules may be eligible for transfer to a post of Teacher or non-teaching staff of another school of same category of post and for a Teacher of same subject under same category of reservation (Honours/ Post Graduate or Pass) and Post, as the case may be.

(2) An incumbent opting for General Transfer shall be transferred to the same category of schools having Bengali or English or Hindi or Nepali or Oriya or Santhali or Telugu or Urdu, as the medium of instruction, as the case may be.

(3) A male incumbent shall not be eligible for General Transfer in a female vacancy and a female incumbent can prefer male/Co-ed/female vacancy.

(4) No incumbent shall be eligible to apply for a General Transfer who is left with less than two years of service from the date of his/her retirement on superannuation.

(5) The General Transfer shall be allowed to an incumbent, against whom no Judicial or Disciplinary proceeding is pending or contemplated and, who is not under suspension.

(6) The school authority of a particular school shall not forward applications received from more than 10% (rounded up to next higher digit) of total number of teachers of that school. Priority shall be given first to the teachers senior in age.

6. Procedure for submission of application for General Transfer in respect of a teacher under rule 3 and 4(1)(c)

(1) The Central Commission shall publish a region-wise list of vacant posts once in a year mentioning the category, subject and medium of instruction for every particular post and other particulars in the website of the Central Commission and simultaneously, by way of notice in the Offices of the Central Commission and the Regional Commissions for the purpose of General Transfer and General Transfer on Special ground mentioned under 4( 1 )(c).

(2) An incumbent desirous of General Transfer/General Transfer on Special Ground within the meaning of these rules shall apply in the Form (containing Part A and Part B) as appended to these rules. The filled up form with requisite fees of Rs. 2,000/- payable in favour of “The West Bengal Central School Service Commission”, within the period as will be notified by the School Service Commission by submitting application Form. One incumbent may submit only one application for maximum 03 (three) of such vacant posts as per his/her priority of choice in application forms as prescribed. Handwritten or online applications may be accepted. Application submitted without fees shall be rejected. Change of preference/preferences after making application by the incumbent, shall not be entertained.

(3) The Head of the Institution, the Secretary of Managing Committee or the Administrator, as the case may be, of the concerned school, shall issue No Objection Certificate to an incumbent to be recommended for General Transfer under these regulations. The No Objection Certificate will not exceed the number as stated under Rule 5(6) of these rules.

(4) The application shall be submitted to the concerned District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) through the Head of the Institution or Secretary, Managing Committee or the Administrator, as the case may be, of the concerned school. In case of online application, extract of application so filled up shall be printed and the same shall be submitted to the concerned District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) through the Head of the Institution or the Secretary, Managing Committee or the Administrator, as the case may be, of the concerned school.

(5) The District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) shall, after verification of all particulars given in the application form by an applicant, forward the same to the concerned Regional Commission within a period of fifteen days from the last date of receipt of such application.

(6) On receipt of such forwarded applications, the Regional Commission shall, first take up the cases within the category mentioned in rule 4(1)(c) and thereafter the category mentioned in rule 3 of these rules in the following manner:-

(a) in case of inter-regional General Transfer, the Regional Commission shall, after careful consideration of the applications, purpose to recommend for transfer of the incumbent to the Central Commission within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application from the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education), in accordance with the provisions of Section 10B of the Act and the Central Commission shall be the final authority to decide upon the matter;

(b) in case of intra-regional General Transfer, the Regional Commission shall, after careful consideration of the applications, be the final authority to decide upon the matter in accordance with the provisions of sub-rule (8) and shall send Intra Regional transfer applications to the Central Commission within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application from the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) to obtain formal recommendation in accordance with the provisions of Section 1 OB of the Act;

(c) In case of both, the applications of the left out candidates under rule 4 (1) (c) shall be considered for General Transfer with other candidates under rule 3.

(7) In case of inter-regional General Transfer on the basis of recommendation of the Regional Commission, under sub-rule (6) (1) (c), the Central Commission shall be the final authority to decide upon the matter and may either reject such recommendation of the Regional Commission by passing an order and after giving reasons to be recorded in writing, or issue recommendation letter to the school concerned.

(8) In case of intra-regional or inter-regional General Transfer as mentioned in sub-rule (6), the Regional Commission or the Central Commission, as the case may be, shall dispose the matter in the following manner:-

(a) if there is one application for one vacant post mentioned in the list as published under sub-rule (1) of rule 6, –

(i) in case of intra-regional transfer, the Regional Commission shall finally decide the matter and forward the name of the incumbent to the Central Commission for formal recommendation, to such vacant post opted by such incumbent,

(ii) in case of inter-regional Transfer, the Central Commission shall finally decide the matter and recommend for transfer of the incumbent to such vacant post opted by such incumbent;

(b) if there is more than one application for one vacant post mentioned in the list as published under sub-rule (1) of rule 6,-

(i) in case of intra-regional transfer, the Regional Commission may consider all such applications and finally decide the matter in favour of that applicant who will secure highest marks amongst the applicants for that particular vacant post and the marks shall be allotted in the manner mentioned in column (3), in case of Teacher, or in column (4), in case of non-teaching staff, of the Table below and forward the name of the incumbent to the Central Commission for formal recommendation, to such vacant post opted by such incumbent,

(ii) in case of inter-regional transfer, the Central Commission shall finally decide the matter of transfer in favour of that applicant who will secure highest marks amongst the applicants for that particular vacant post and the marks shall be allotted in the manner mentioned in column (3), in case of Teacher, or in column (4), in case of non-teaching staff, of the Table below and recommend for transfer of the incumbent to such vacant post opted by such incumbent:-

Note – If one candidate shall secure highest marks in case of two or more vacant posts, he/she shall be allowed transfer only for one post as the Commission may decide strictly as per his/her priority of choice for vacant posts given in his/her application. In this case, his/her right of transfer in rest cases where he/she may get highest marks shall be ceased automatically.

(9) The recommendation/order of rejection of the Central School Service Commission, as the case may be, mentioned in sub-rule (7) of rule 6, shall be communicated by the Central Commission to the incumbent concerned, to the Regional Commission, to the Secretaries of the Managing Committees of the Schools concerned or the Administrators of the Schools concerned, as the case may be, and to the concerned District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) with a copy to the Director of School Education.

(10) The Secretary of the Managing Committee or the Administrator of the concerned school, as the case may be, shall, on receipt of recommendation of the Central Commission through the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) with specific instruction to release the incumbent in whose favour the recommendation has been made, preferably within a period of 30 (thirty) days from the date of receipt of such recommendation and shall communicate to the Central Commission and the Regional Commission about such release within one month of such release.

The concerned District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) may, under any unavoidable circumstances, extend the joining time for further 30 days. The Central Commission shall have the power to extend the joining time for a further period on receiving application from the candidate who is under approved leave or deputation since before the issue of recommendation of General Transfer.

(11) When the teacher is released and the joining time has been extended, the teacher shall submit one communication for joining, report of leave status and other documents required for joining in the new school. Otherwise, the salary will remain stopped till the teacher joins physically.

(12) After release of a teacher or non teaching staff the concerned releasing school shall intimate the nature of the vacancy to the concerned District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) within 15(fifteen) days maintaining 100 point roster and District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) shall inform the vacancy to the Director of School Education within 30(thirty) days. The West Bengal School Service Commission shall arrange for recruitment of Teacher/ Non-teaching staff as per recruitment rules. There shall not be any lien in the previous post.

(13) A leave with pay for a maximum period of 5 (five) days including holiday, if any, shall be granted by the school concerned where the incumbent will join on General Transfer. The new school will issue appointment letter to the teacher and will inform the West Bengal School Service Commission within 15(fifteen) days of joining. The salary for the leave period will be drawn by the new school if it was not drawn by the old school.

(14) No claim whatsoever for financial assistance towards traveling allowance or cost of transportation etc., shall be made by the incumbent in whose favour a recommendation of transfer has been made by the Commission.

(15) The District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) concerned shall, after obtaining papers of General Transfer from the School Managing Committee or the Administrator of the school, as the case may be, issue fresh approval of appointment to the incumbents who join in the post of the respective school. The joining time shall be recorded in the approval memo issued by the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education).

(16) The School Education Department shall issue order clarifying procedure for adjustment of leave, salary and other service matters in relation to the General Transfer.

7. Procedure for General Transfer on Special ground under rule 4(1)(a) and rule 4(1)(b)

(1) The teacher shall submit application with sufficient documents for consideration of the Managing Committee in connection with the transfer on medical ground.

(2) The Managing Committee may, after examination of the prayer and after receiving views of the Medical practitioner of the committee, forward the prayer with resolution to the District Inspector of Schools (Secondary Education) who will forward after verification of vacancy as per option submitted by the teacher and non-teaching staff where he/she may desire to be transferred, to the School Education Department.

(3) The School Education Department may, after proper examination, recommend the prayer to the West Bengal School Service Commission and in case of inter-district reallocation of service, the Department shall cause necessary enquiry on vacancy report.

8. Area/region for General Transfer

A General Transfer of a candidate may be intra-region, or inter-region, or intra-district, or inter-district, as the case may be, covering the whole of the State of West Bengal.

9. Admissibility of General Transfer

Every teacher and non-teaching staff will get the benefit of General Transfer/Mutual Transfer once in his/her entire service period.

10. Procedure of submission of application of General Transfer in respect of non-teaching staff including librarian

In case of non-teaching staff and librarian desirous of General Transfer under the provisions of these rules, the provision of this rule shall apply, mutatis mutandis.

11. Report of General Transfer to be maintained by Central Commission

A status report of such General Transfer will be maintained by the Central Commission and an annual statement will be forwarded by the Central Commission to the School Education Department, Government of West Bengal.

12. Incorrect, false or fabricated application

If at any point of time it is found by any of the concerned authorities that the particulars given in the application is/are not correct or false and fabricated, appropriate action against the concerned applicant(s) shall be taken by any of the authorities relating to his/her service and his/her service can also be terminated as a result of such action.

13. Application of the rules

The rules for Managing of Recognized Non- Government Institution (Aided and Unaided) 1969 and rules for Management of Sponsored Institutions (Secondary) Rules, 1972 for the Teachers and non-teaching staff of a school shall be deemed to have been amended in respect of the matter covered under these rules from the date of commencement of these rules.

14. Non-compliance of these rules by School Managing Committee or Administrator of the school concerned, as the case may be

It shall be mandatory for the Managing Committee or the Administrator, as the case may be, of the concerned schools to issue No Objection Certificate to eligible applicant and to allow an incumbent to be released and join in the concerned school once a recommendation of transfer has been made by the Commission. Under non-compliance of the order the Department may direct the Head of the Institution to comply the order. Failure in compliance may cause removal of the Head of the institution from the membership of the Management Committee of the school for a period, as may be specified.

15. Interpretation

Any dispute in this regard shall be referred to School Education Department by the West Bengal School Service Commission and decision of Government of West Bengal in the School Education Department, shall be final.

By Order of the Governor.

Sd/- ARNAB ROY
Secretary to the Government of West Bengal

No. 159-SE dated 27.02.2015