Follow DoPT Orders: Telangana HC to IAS Officers

Hyderabad: IAS officers who were agitating against the Centre’s orders to join their allot cadre did not get any solace in the Telangana High Court too on Wednesday, which pointed out that their primary duty was to serve the people and that they could be posted anywhere in the country as all-India service officers.

Their request to stay the Centre’s orders had been declined by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Tuesday.

A division bench comprising Justice Abhinandan Kumar Shavili and Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty dismissed the writ petitions filed by the IAS officers who requested the court to direct the Centre to let them continue in their present states, till their applications were decided by the tribunal.

The bench clearly told the officers to join in the respective states as per the orders issued by the Centre’s department of personnel and training (DoPT) dated October 9.

The bench was dealing with writ petitions filed by way of lunch motion by D. Ronald Rose, A. Vani Prasad, Amrapali Kata and Karuna Vakati, allocated to AP but working in Telangana, and Hari Kiran, Srijana Gummala and Siva Sankar Loheti, allotted to Telangana but working in AP.

On Tuesday, they had approached the CAT which was not inclined to issue interim orders, while directing the Union government to file counters. The tribunal will now hear the case on November 4.

The officers approached the High Court requesting relief till the tribunal decided their applications. The High Court disposed of the petitions on the ground that it could not interfere with the process of administration.

The High Court viewed the allocation of the employees as the privilege or administrative task of governments, and interference was unwarranted unless the allocation was arbitrary, mala fide or erroneous.

The court said that the officers could present their case before the CAT. The court also observed that the all-India service officers cadre supposed to work wherever they were allocated, and could not select the place of choice. Their primary duty was to serve the people, the court said.

Justice Abhinandan Kumar Shavili, during the course of the hearing, observed: “These are all-India service officers. Bureaucrats have to work for the people wherever they are posted.. they should join the respective states… these are all elite people and it is the job of the Union of India to post them in the respective states as per the workload and their requirement… that is the reason, courts do not entertain such pleas.. let them first go and report in their respective states”.

Further, the judge observed “If the court entertains these pleas and grants stay, this will be endless and this will go on.”