HC eyes equitable orders in the batch of petitions on allocation of AIS officers

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday observed that it made up its mind to remand back the pending issue of allocation of 13  All India Service (IAS and IPS) officers between the Telugu states to the Union of India for fresh consideration.

The court observed that it would set aside the Central Administrative Tribunal-Hyderabad Bench orders and allocate the said officers by the Department of Personal Training. It will direct the Union government to consider the allocation of the said officers afresh because they served for about 10 years in Telangana or AP as the case may also be taken into account of the said officers and as well as the guidelines for allocation.

The Division Bench, comprising of Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice N. Rajeshwar Rao, heard the Batch of Writ Petitions filed by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, challenging the CAT orders, which had set aside their decision in the allocation of 13 All India Service Officers after the bifurcation of the state.

The Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad Branch, vide its orders on 29-3-2016, set aside the DoPT's allocation of Anjani Kumar, Abhilasha Bhisht, Ronald Rose, Amrapali Katta and seven other officers to the Andhra Pradesh and allotted them to work in the State of Telangana.

Similarly, some of the IAS and IPS officers, who were allotted to Telangana by the DoPT had been changed by the CAT. Aggrieved with the said orders, DoPT has approached the High Court and the cases have been pending since then. Recently, the High Court reversed the orders of the CAT in Somesh Kumar's case and sent him to Andhra Pradesh.

In this backdrop, the batch of cases related to remaining officers have been coming for hearing regularly.

On Tuesday, senior counsel Sudheer, appearing for Anjani Kumar, submitted that in light of Section 80 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, they have challenged the guidelines pertaining to swapping options and the division of AIS officers into “outsiders” and “insiders”.

K. Lakshmi Narasimha and senior counsel Goda Shiva, representing three officers, submitted that their cases are on a different footing and their allocation on the basis of domicile in itself is against the guidelines and their matters have to be heard distinguished from the direct recruits.

After hearing the contentions, the Bench observed that it would not perform the duty of appellate authority on allocation and made it clear that it is bound to uphold the allocation guidelines in light of the judgments in the Somesh Kumar case.

Further, it observed that if it allows the Writ Petitions filed by the DOPT, the very next day, the orders will be issued by relieving the said officers and asking them to join the other state.

Hence, by considering the facts, it made up its mind to pass equitable orders by remanding this issue to the Union of India to deal with this issue afresh. However, the court adjourned to Wednesday for further hearing.