DoPT Rejects Appeals of IAS Officers for Cadre Change, Reinforces Allocation Post Bifurcation

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has rejected the requests of eight senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers for changes in their cadre allocations, reinforcing the original assignments post the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014. These officers, originally assigned to either Andhra Pradesh or Telangana, had sought to remain in their current positions in Telangana.

The officers include Amrapali Kata, currently serving as the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation commissioner, and D. Ronald Rose, Energy Secretary with Telangana, among others. The officers were directed to report back to their allotted states by October 16. The decision comes amidst the complexities following the recommendations made by the Pratyush Sinha committee during the bifurcation process.

Amrapali Kata and others had previously contended that the committee adopted inconsistent criteria for considering requests for cadre swapping. In addition to Ms. Kata, officers like Gummella Srijana and Sivasankar Lotheti will need to transition to Andhra Pradesh from Telangana, while some, including M. Prashanti and A. Vani Prasad, will return to Andhra Pradesh after being temporarily placed in Telangana due to administrative tribunal rulings.

The officers had succeeded in challenging the cadre allocations at the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which initially ruled in their favor, finding deficiencies in the Pratyush Sinha committee’s guidelines. However, upon an appeal by the Union government, the Telangana High Court upheld the committee’s guidelines, prompting the latest DoPT decree.

Concerns were raised by officers such as G. Srijana and Sivasankar Lotheti, who argued that their domicile status had been misconstrued during the bifurcation, stating they were categorized under Telangana despite their claims of belonging to Andhra Pradesh based on their permanent addresses. Similarly, Chevvuru Hari Kiran contested his categorization under the reserved category for Telangana, despite being selected on general merit.

DoPT’s latest directive was based on the findings of a one-man committee led by retired IAS officer Deepak Khandekar, which reaffirmed the original cadre allocations. The committee cited the need for consistency and adherence to guidelines to ensure fairness among all affected officers from the undivided Andhra Pradesh cadre.

The DoPT’s instruction to the involved officers to join their allotted states by mid-October underscores the continuing administrative challenges posed by the division of states and highlights the rigid adherence to procedural guidelines in administrative cadre allocations.