The Government of India has clarified that it supports the posting of husband and wife at the same place for government employees. The information was shared in the Rajya Sabha in response to an unstarred question on spousal transfers.
Replying to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Prof. Manoj Kumar Jha, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has already issued guidelines to all ministries and departments on this matter.
According to the government, these guidelines apply to employees working in the Central Government, State Governments, and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). The objective is to help married couples work at the same station as far as possible.
However, the government clarified that there is no central record of how many spousal transfer cases have been approved. This is because transfers are handled by individual ministries and departments, and not by DoPT at the central level.
The reply was given by Minister of State Dr. Jitendra Singh and confirms that spousal posting remains a recognised policy, though its implementation depends on the concerned department.
If we talk about Banks, the DFS had already released the new transfer policy last year and asked all banks to comply with it. In the DFS policy, it was clearly mentioned that husband and wife should be posted in same place.
New Transfer Policy for Public Sector Bank Employees
- Rotational transfers should be based on seniority.
- An online platform will be created for employees to give location preferences.
- Officers up to Scale-III should be posted within their linguistic regions.
- Additional grounds for transfer include marriage, spouse posting, medical needs, maternity, child care, and distant postings.
- Employees should be posted near spouse working in Central or State Government.
- Women employees should be transferred to nearby locations.
- Employees may appeal unfair transfers. A grievance committee must resolve appeals within 15 days with written reasons.
- Transfer protection may not apply to union office bearers on promotion.
Click here to read the new transfer guidelines in detail
