Telangana High Court orders four IAS officers to join duties in AP

The court emphasised the need for the officers to adhere to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) orders issued on October 9, which directed them to report to Andhra Pradesh by October 16.

By LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

Hyderabad: The Division Bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Justice Abhinandan Kumar Shavili and Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty, dismissed a batch of writ petitions filed by IAS officers seeking to remain in their current postings until their applications were resolved by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).

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The court emphasized the need for the officers to adhere to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) orders issued on October 9, which directed them to report to Andhra Pradesh by October 16. The officers, including Ronald Rose, Vani Prasad, Amrapali Katta, and Karuna Vakati — originally allocated to Andhra Pradesh but currently working in Telangana — were among those affected. Conversely, Hari Kiran, Srijana Gummala, and Siva Sankar Loheti, initially assigned to Telangana but working in Andhra Pradesh, were also ordered to report to Telangana.

The IAS officers had approached CAT on Tuesday, but the tribunal did not grant any interim relief and scheduled a hearing for November 4, prompting them to seek relief from the High Court. However, the High Court firmly stated that it would not interfere with the administrative processes involved in personnel allocation, asserting that such decisions fall within the purview of the government.

Justice Shavili remarked on the nature of All India Service officers, stressing their duty to serve the public wherever they are posted.

“These are elite officers, and it is the job of the union of India to post them according to the workload and requirement,” the Justice said.

The bench reiterated that unless there was clear evidence of arbitrary or malafide action, the courts would refrain from intervening in administrative decisions. The court further noted that the officers retained the right to present their cases before the CAT if they believed any violations or grievances existed regarding their allocations.

The officials had argued that the DoPT had not taken into consideration the recommendations of a one-man committee and also that the approach of the Pratyush Sinha Committee, which was responsible for the bifurcation of cadres between the two Telugu States, was flawed. They also submitted that the DoPT did not take into account their 10-year experience. The CAT had asked DoPT to submit a detailed report by the first week of November, addressing the grievances raised by the officers. The DoPT had last week rejected the claim of eight All India Service (AIS) officers – five from the IAS and three from the Indian Police Service (IPS) – to allocate Telangana cadre to them. These officers were allocated to the Andhra Pradesh cadre following the bifurcation of the state in 2014 but they had challenged this and had requested that they be allocated Telangana cadre.

The decision was taken by the DoPT following a recommendation by a single-member committee comprising former DoPT Secretary Deepak Khandekar, which was constituted to reconsider the final allocation of the AIS officers.