HC Directs Centre for Fresh Allocation of Cadre to 13 Officers

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to make a fresh allocation of cadre for 13 All India Service Officers (10 IAS and 3 IPS) who have, until now, been working in a cadre that was not allotted to them by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) at the time of state bifurcation in 2014.

Upholding certain observations made by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which earlier gave a ruling in favour of these officers, the High Court asked them to approach the DoPT afresh with their grievances and directed the DoPT to make fresh allocation within the framework of Pratyush Sinha Committee guidelines.

The division bench comprising Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice N. Rajeshwar Rao, accordingly, disposed of the writ petitions filed by the DoPT challenging all the CAT orders.

Officers who challenged their respective allocations include IAS officers Hari Kiran, G. Ananta Ramulu, M. Prashanti (promotee), Karuna Vakati (promotee), A. Vani Prasad (promotee), Ronald Rose, Srijana Gummalla, Sham Sher Singh Rawat, Amrapali Katta, Shiva Shankar Lotheti and three IPS officers Anjani Kumar, Abhilasha Bisht and Abhishek Mohanty. The court said that the officers are entitled to raise all the legal issues in their representation, while requesting allocation to their choice of state.

Upon receiving such representations from the officers concerned, the Centre



should re-examine all the grievances raised by the said officers in regard to their domicile, nativity and swapping options. Besides, the Centre shall also consider the fact that these officers had rendered nearly ten years of service in the respective states, after AP reorganisation came into force. The court mentioned especially that it was a "very long period of working and most of the officers are supposed to superannuate in the coming few years".

After a personal hearing of the officers and re-examining the issue, the DoPT shall pass orders of allocation, it ruled.

The division bench upheld the findings and observations made by the CAT, while reversing the allocation of the said officers by the DoPT. The court said that the CAT had correctly pointed out the mistakes and latches in allocation.  

"But, the CAT ought to have remanded back the issue to DoPT for fresh consideration. Instead of that, it reversed the allocation. The tribunal or courts cannot allot the officers to any state or either of the state in this case. Hence, the issue needs to be re-examined," Justice Shavili said.

However, the court did not fix any time frame to complete the said process. The officers have to make representations and till orders are passed by the DoPT, they have the liberty to continue in the same states as of now, the court said.