Hyderabad: Following the High Court dismissing the petitions filed by Andhra Pradesh-cadre IAS officers seeking to continue their service in Telangana, the state government relieved the five officers from duty on Wednesday. They were ordered to report back to AP on Wednesday as per the Centre’s orders. It is not clear whether they had complied with the order.
The state government, adhering to the court’s ruling, issued fresh appointments to replace the outgoing officers. Those relieved include senior officials occupying key roles: GHMC commissioner Amrapali Kata, secretaries D. Ronald Rose (energy), A. Vani Prasad (tourism), Vakati Karuna (women & child development ) and M. Prashanthi, director of Ayush.
In the fresh orders, the government gave full additional charge (FAC) of GHMC commissioner to K. Ilambarithi, transport commissioner, in place of Amrapali Kata.
N. Sridhar, principal secretary, Scheduled Castes Development, was given FAC as tourism secretary, filling in for Vani Prasad.
Sandeep Kumar Sultania, principal secretary, finance, was placed in FAC as energy secretary, succeeding Ronald Rose.
T.K. Sreedevi, commissioner of Scheduled Castes Development, was given FAC as secretary, women & child development, replacing Karuna.
R.V. Karnan, Director of health, was given FAC of director, Ayush, in the place of M. Prashanti.
Meanwhile, two Telangana-cadre IAS officers who were working in Andhra Pradesh, Srijana Gummala and Lotheti Siva Sankar, returned to Telangana on Wednesday as per the orders of the department of personnel and training (DoPT).
Both officers met Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari at the Secretariat and submitted their relieving orders issued by the Andhra Pradesh government.
Another Telangana-cadre officer, Chevuri Hari Kiran, who is serving in Andhra Pradesh, reportedly contacted the Chief Secretary over the phone and informed her of his intention to report for duty in Telangana on Thursday.
While the IAS reshuffle progresses, three AP-cadre IPS officers working in Telangana — Anjani Kumar, Abhilash Bist, and Abhishek Mahanty — have yet to return to AP. According to official sources, the Telangana government is still awaiting orders from the Union home ministry, on relieving them to allow the officers to join the AP cadre. These orders are expected to be issued by Thursday.
This action follows a long-standing tussle over the service allocation of officers between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after the bifurcation of the states in 2014. Several IAS officers, despite being part of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, had sought to continue working in Telangana, citing various personal and professional reasons. The High Court’s ruling brought an end to this prolonged debate.
