Adjudication of writs on AIS officers’ allotment to Telangana sought

Hyderabad: Gade Praveen Kumar, Deputy Solicitor-General, representing the Department of Personnel and Training, New Delhi, on Monday insisted the division bench of Telangana High Court, comprising Justices Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Pulla Karthik to adjudicate the batch of writ petitions challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad, order dated March 29, 2016 allocating 15 AIS officers to Telangana, originally allotted to AP post bifurcation.

Kumar informed the court that the then CJ court of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S. Nanda had passed orders directing the former Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to report back to AP. It found fault with the CAT order allocating Somesh Kumar to Telangana. Kumar argued that the order passed in Somesh Kumar case, is applicable to all the IPS and IAS officers, who are working in Telangana, originally allotted to AP

This contention was vehemently opposed by the other senior counsels, including Jonnalagadda Sudhir Kumar, stating that Somesh Kumar case is not at all applicable to the other AIS officers working in Telangana.

Dr. Lakshmi Narasimha, senior counsel appearing for one petitioner, told the division bench that the Central government has no locus standi to appear in the batch of writ petitions because there are so many cases pending in the HC, where the Centre does not appear. In this batch of writs of 2017, the DOPT is showing immense interest. All the counsels should be heard individually because the contentions vary from case to case. He argued that Somesh Kumar judgment is not applicable to the remaining batch of writ petitions as this aspect was made amply clear by CJ Bhuyan.

Santosh Kumar, special government pleader, attached to Telangana Advocate-General’s office, said a review petition has been filed in the HC, seeking a review of the order passed by CJ court , which found fault with the allotment of Somesh Kumar to Telangana and it is pending.

Sudheer Kumar argued that when the AIS officers, who are working in Telangana based on CAT order are comfortably working and AP & Telangana have no issues in this regard, why the DOPT is seeking an urgent hearing of the cases.

The CAT had passed orders on March 29,2016 allocating IPS officers Anjani Kumar, Abhilasha Bhisht, Santosh Mehra, AV Ranganath, Abhishek Mohanty, IAS officers C Hari Kiran, D Donald Rose and others to Telangana which has been challenged by DOPT. Hearing in the case adjourned by two weeks