Vacation delay threatens teacher couple’s transfer, HC steps in

Ahmedabad: A summer vacation loophole nearly turned into a long-distance posting nightmare for a teacher couple — until the Gujarat high court stepped in to ensure that the technical glitch did not separate husband and wife by 125km.

Kamlesh Patel and Asha Patel, both primary teachers serving in Chhotaudepur district, had applied for inter-district transfers to their native Mahisagar district. While Kamlesh’s transfer order came through on May 7, a curious summer-vacation catch threatened to leave the couple stranded in different districts for the new academic session.

Kamlesh was transferred from Ladhod village in Bodeli taluka of Chhotaudepur to Hathivan in Lunawada taluka of Mahisagar. But with schools shut for vacation, he was never formally relieved from his old school and therefore could not officially join the new one.

That missing administrative checkbox snowballed into a bigger problem: since Kamlesh had technically not assumed charge in Mahisagar, Asha’s application for transfer to the same district on spouse grounds was rejected.

With the online transfer window for spouse-ground applications opening from June 3 to June 7 and schools scheduled to reopen on June 8, the couple feared they would be forced to teach in districts far apart despite having secured a transfer order.

The couple moved the Gujarat high court seeking urgent intervention.

Hearing the plea, Justice L S Pirzada ordered education authorities to waste no further time in processing the paperwork. The HC order reads, “The present petition is disposed of with a direction that respondent No. 4 – the principal, Ladhod Primary School, taluka Bodeli, district Chhotaudepur, shall forthwith relieve petitioner No. 1, Kamleshkumar Vadilal Patel, pursuant to the transfer order dated May 7, 2026. Respondent No. 5 – the principal, Mala ‘F’ Varg, Hathivan, taluka Kothamba, district Mahisagar, shall permit petitioner No. 1 to join and assume charge pursuant to the said transfer order.”

The high court also permitted Asha to file a fresh transfer application under spouse grounds and observed, “The concerned authorities shall consider the same in accordance with law.”

The court directed authorities to complete the entire exercise by Thursday — effectively rescuing the couple from what had become a classic case of a transfer order stuck on summer break.