Transfer under the Presidential Order does not include promotion; rules inconsistent with Article 371-D were invalid to that extent.

Transfer under paragraph 5(2) of the Presidential Order does not include promotion. Paragraph 5(1) treats recruitment, appointment, seniority, promotion and transfer as distinct concepts within a local cadre, and paragraph 5(2) is only an enabling provision for specified transfers. Because Article 371-D gives the Presidential Order overriding effect, a service rule framed under Article 309 cannot extend beyond that limited transfer power or permit promotion in a manner inconsistent with the Order. The impugned Special Rules were invalid to the extent they allowed employees from the Factories and Boilers Department to be considered for promotion in the Labour Department, and the Tribunal's view was sustained.

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Issues: Whether the expression "transfer" in paragraph 5(2) of the Presidential Order includes promotion so as to validate the impugned Special Rules permitting employees from the Factories and Boilers Department to be considered for promotion to posts in the Labour Department, and whether the Tribunal was right in striking down those rules as contrary to Article 371-D.

Analysis: Paragraph 5(1) of the Presidential Order treats recruitment, appointment, seniority, promotion and transfer as distinct concepts within a local cadre. Paragraph 5(2) is only an enabling provision permitting transfers in specified situations, and its language refers only to transfer. The distinction drawn in the Order between transfer and promotion is deliberate and cannot be ignored by reading words into the provision. Transfer, in service law, denotes lateral movement to a similar post and is not ordinarily a movement to a higher post. Since Article 371-D(10) gives overriding effect to the Presidential Order, any rule made under the proviso to Article 309 that travels beyond the limits of paragraph 5(2), or permits consideration of employees from outside the relevant local cadre for promotion in a manner inconsistent with the Order, cannot survive.

Conclusion: The expression "transfer" does not include promotion. The impugned rules to the extent they enabled consideration of employees from the Factories and Boilers units for promotion to higher posts in the Labour unit were invalid, and the Tribunal was correct in striking them down.

Ratio Decidendi: In the scheme of the Presidential Order under Article 371-D, "transfer" and "promotion" are separate legal concepts; paragraph 5(2) authorises only transfer, not promotion, and any service rule contrary to that limitation is void to the extent of inconsistency.

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