Ex-Telangana CS Somesh joins Andhra cadre today

Hyderabad: Former chief secretary Somesh Kumar will join the Andhra Pradesh cadre on Thursday as directed by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Official sources said Somesh has decided to join the AP cadre first and decide his future course of action.

Somesh Kumar was relieved from the chief secretary post and Telangana cadre on Tuesday after the Telangana High Court quashed a 2015 order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that allowed Somesh to work in the Telangana cadre although he was allotted to the Andhra Pradesh cadre in 2015.

Though there were speculations that he was not willing to go to Andhra Pradesh and would instead opt for voluntary retirement, they were proved wrong with Somesh deciding to join the AP cadre.

There were also speculations over Somesh approaching the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court judgment. This too did not happen. Some speculated that he would quit IAS and join politics. There were also speculations over Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao appointing him as ‘government adviser’ after Somesh quits IAS. But all these speculations were proved wrong.

Somesh is due for retirement on December 31 this year. With nearly 11-and-a-half months of service still left, it is learnt that Somesh wants to work until his retirement and has no plans to wage a legal battle or opt for VRS or become an advisor to the government or join politics at present.

With the Chief Minister appointing a full-fledged chief secretary A. Santhi Kumari in Somesh’s place on Wednesday, contrary to speculations that the Chief Minister would appoint an in-charge chief secretary to enable Somesh Kumar to approach the Supreme Court and in the event of him getting a stay order, he could be reinstated, the hopes of Somesh Kumar to retain CS post were also dashed.

All these factors are learnt to have prompted Somesh Kumar to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre and complete his remaining service.