In what way was Telangana government concerned with re-allocation of IAS and IPS officers by Union government, asked Union government counsel in Telangana High Court on Monday.
Counsel was presenting Central government’s contentions in a batch of pleas filed by it seeking to quash Central Administrative Tribunal allocating 13 IAS and IPS officers to Telangana. Senior IPS officer and Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar is among the 13 All India Service officers.
The Union government re-allocated All India Service officers of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state (in the backdrop of its bifurcation) to residuary AP and newly created Telangana. These 13 officers and senior IAS officers were allotted to AP. But they moved the CAT-Hyderabad which passed orders permitting them to continue in Telangana.
The Central government filed writ petitions in Telangana HC seeking to set aside allocation of these officers to Telangana. In January, the HC sent senior IAS officer Somesh Kumar (then serving as Telangana Chief Secretary) back to AP quashing the CAT order. The Union government had been insisting that the HC’s verdict in Somesh Kumar’s case be squarely applied to all the other officers.
Meanwhile, Telangana government filed a petition seeking review of the verdict in Somesh Kumar’s case. When the batch of pleas came up for hearing before the division bench on Monday, Central government counsel said the Telagana government, which sought review of the HC judgment in Somesh Kumar case, contended before the CAT that it had no role to play in the matter. Central government counsel sought to know why Telangana government had filed the review petition.
Counsel, appearing for the officers, said their cases were different from that of Somesh Kumar. Stating that their matters cannot be equated with that of former Chief Secretary, they wanted the cases to be heard separately. Central government counsel expressed his readiness to present his arguments if the matters were posted on Tuesday and requested the bench to list the matters as first items for hearing.
Counsel of the officers said there was no urgency and several service matters were pending before the HC. They requested the bench to hear their cases after adjudication of the State government’s review petition.
Central government counsel filed a synopsis in the HC, dividing the cases of the 13 officers into two groups. Counsel said the ‘Somesh Kumar verdict’ can be squarely applied to pleas pertaining to officers Anjani Kumar, Ronald Rose, J. Anantha Ramu, S.S. Rawat, Amrapali Kata and Abhilasha Bisht. Others can be heard separately.
The bench posted the matters for August 7.
