DoPT Upholds Allocation of IAS and IPS Officers to Andhra Pradesh Cadre

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has dealt a major setback to a group of 14 senior IAS and IPS officers working in Telangana, including Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Amrapali Kata. The Centre, on Thursday, rejected their appeals to reconsider their allocation to the Andhra Pradesh (AP) cadre and allowed them to continue working in Telangana.

The DoPT has directed these officers, which include 11 IAS and 3 IPS officers, to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre by October 16. Despite their original allocation to the AP cadre following the bifurcation in 2014, some officers have been functioning in Telangana. The Department communicated separate letters to the Chief Secretaries of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to firmly establish its decision and relieve the officers from their duties with immediate effect.

This action echoes previous directives from the DoPT to then Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, who was forced to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre and subsequently opted for voluntary retirement. Somesh Kumar had successfully contested his allocation with the aid of an order from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). However, despite the DoPT’s appeals challenging the CAT ruling in the Telangana High Court in February 2017, the case had stalled. Renewed interest in the matter culminated in fresh efforts from the DoPT to resolve the situation.

The IAS officers affected by the recent decision include Amrapali Kata, D. Ronald Rose, A. Vani Prasad, Vakati Karuna, and M. Prashanti. Notably, district collectors Gummella Srijana and Siva Sankar Lotheti, as well as G. Hari Kiran and Special Chief Secretary Anantha Ramu, also contested their allocation to the AP cadre but received the CAT’s support to remain in Telangana, which had been not fully enforced by the Telangana government.

The IPS officers involved in this decision are Anjani Kumar, Abhilasha Bisht, and Abhishek Mohanty, who have been allocated to Andhra Pradesh but continued service in Telangana. Santosh Mehra, another IPS officer who had contested the transfer, has since retired.

The officers had previously challenged their cadre allocation, with some obtaining relief through the CAT. However, the DoPT challenged these CAT orders in the High Court of Telangana. The High Court subsequently overturned these orders, recommending the establishment of a committee by the Centre to review fresh representations from the officers seeking to remain in Telangana.

In response, the DoPT established a single-member committee led by retired IAS officer Deepak Khandekar, who upheld the department’s original allocation orders, leaving the officers’ appeals denied.