Telangana HC quashes CAT order on Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar

The CAT order dated March 29, 2016 allocating Somesh Kumar, currently the Telangana Chief Secretary was quashed on Monday by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Bhuyan and Justice S Nanda.

Hyderabad: In a day of swift developments, the Telangana High Court set aside and quashed the March 2016 order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) – Hyderabad allocating senior IAS officer and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to Telangana.

Within hours, the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training issued orders relieving him from the State government of Telangana and directing him to join the Andhra Pradesh government by Thursday.

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Earlier, a High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Surepalli Nanda held that the CAT had ‘grossly erred’ in interfering with the allocation of Somesh Kumar, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch.

The bench, pronouncing its order, allowed the writ petition filed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) challenging the CAT order and held that the “allocation to a cadre is an incidence of service and no officer has a vested right to claim allotment to a particular cadre”.

During the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, IAS officers were allocated between the two States in accordance with the Reorganisation Act by the Central Government.

While Somesh Kumar opted for Telangana, he was allotted the AP cadre based on advisory committee recommendations.

The allotment was challenged by Somesh Kumar before the CAT, which on March 29, 2016, held that the allocation was contrary to guidelines and Section 80 of the Reorganisation Act and directed the Centre Government to treat Somesh Kumar as with the Telangana cadre with all consequential benefits.

Advancing arguments in the writ petition filed by the DoPT, the Additional Solicitor General submitted that CAT had however erred both on facts and on law.

He said the CAT order was contrary to the Reorganisation Act, Indian Administrative Service Rules, 1954 and All India Services Rules, 1958.

DV Sitaram Murthy, senior counsel representing Somesh Kumar, said the CAT had taken a very pragmatic approach in passing a reasoned order and no interference was required.

The State government submitted that exercise of allocation of officers was within the purview of the Centre.

However, Somesh Kumar serving as Chief Secretary for a considerable period had contributed to various developmental activities and as such interfering with the CAT order at this stage would disturb the settled position, the State government said.

The bench, after hearing the arguments, held that the CAT order was impermissible under law. The bench, which quashed the CAT order, also refused to keep the order in abeyance.

Soon after the High Court judgment, the DoPT issued orders stating that in compliance with the judgment, Somesh Kumar, IAS, stood relieved from the State government of Telangana with immediate effect, and directed him to join the State government of Andhra Pradesh, latest by January 12.