3 min readChandigarhMay 5, 2026 03:33 PM IST
The Delhi High Court has rejected a writ petition filed by Lieutenant Colonel Manali Shrivastava, an officer of the Indian Army’s Corps of Signals, challenging her transfer out of Bathinda that disrupted her “spouse-coordinated posting”.
In a judgment pronounced on May 2, a Division Bench comprising Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan held that the posting order dated September 18, 2025, was justified and did not warrant judicial interference.
Lt Col Shrivastava and her husband were posted to units in Bathinda following approval of their spouse-coordinated posting application on August 8, 2024. The arrangement was for a two-year tenure, explicitly “subject to continued satisfactory performance,” as per the Army policy.
During her tenure, the petitioner faced multiple performance-related issues, including a complaint dated October 28, 2024, that led to her removal as the leave sanctioning authority, followed by a warning letter on March 19, 2025, that initiated an Adverse Confidential Report (CR).
She was further issued a performance warning on May 23, 2025, for deficiencies during Operation Sindoor, culminating in an Adverse CR for the period ending May 2025, endorsed by competent authorities.
Consequently, she was posted to the 23 Wireless Experimental Unit (WEU), prompting her to approach the Delhi High Court seeking the quashing of the transfer order on grounds of mala fide intent by her commanding officer and a violation of the two-year tenure assurance.
The high court emphasised the limited scope of judicial interference in transfer and posting orders, particularly in the armed forces. Citing Supreme Court precedents, the court noted that transfers are an incident of service and cannot be challenged unless they are shown to be arbitrary or mala fide.
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The bench noted in its order that spouse-coordinated postings are conditional on satisfactory performance and that multiple warnings and an endorsed Adverse CR provided a sufficient basis for the transfer. It also found that no cogent evidence of mala fide was produced, and that the allegations against the commanding officer remained unsubstantiated.
The judgment noted that the petitioner had already benefited from spouse postings for 77 out of 149 months of marriage. “In the absence of any material to highlight mala fide in the posting order, no ground to interfere with the impugned order is made out,” the court observed and dismissed the writ petition.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
