Published Jan 20, 2023 | 8:13 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 20, 2023 | 8:15 PM
Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar, who is serving in Telangana based on the CAT order. (Supplied)
The Telangana High Court on Friday, 20 January, adjourned to 27 January the hearing on the petition by the Centre for seeking the allotment of 11 All India Service officers, including Director General of Police Anjani Kumar, who are continuing in Telangana to Andhra Pradesh cadre.
The high court postponed the hearing after the Centre’s counsel made a request to this effect as the Additional Solicitor General could not attend the court.
The 11 officers have been serving in Telangana on the orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) since 2016.
They had moved the CAT after the Pratyush Sinha Committee had allotted them to the Andhra Pradesh cadre at the time of the division of the state in 2014.
In 2017, the Centre moved the high court on the CAT’s orders and since then arguments have been going on.
The 11 All India Service officers are anxious about the verdict in the wake of the high court giving orders on 10 January asking the then Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
Within hours, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) sent a letter to Somesh Kumar to report to the Andhra Pradesh government by 12 January since he stood relieved in the wake of the high court’s orders.
With no alternative left, Somesh Kumar demitted from office in Telangana and joined the Andhra Pradesh cadre as directed.
Now the Damocles sword is hanging on Director General of Police Anajani Kumar’s head: He, too, was allotted to the Andhra Pradesh cadre but is continuing in Telangana on CAT’s order.
Anjani Kumar took over as the DGP very recently, on 31 December.
There is another IPS officer Abhilash Bhist who is continuing in Telangana though she was originally allotted to Andhra Pradesh. She is now the director of Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory.
The IAS officers whose cadre would be decided by the high court include Secretary Education Vakati Karuna, Finance Secretary Ronald Rose, EPTRI Director General Vani Prasad, Forest Department Secretary Prashanthi, and Amrapali, who is now in Central services though she was allotted to Andhra Pradesh cadres.
Earlier in the day, BJP legislator Raghunandan Rao said that he had lodged a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office on how the All India Service officers who were allotted to Andhra Pradesh in 2014 were still continuing in Telangana on the orders of the CAT.
He said the bureaucrats should work wherever they are asked to go and that the Supreme Court has made this point very clear but several officers obtained CAT’s stay orders on their allotment and were continuing in Telangana.
These officers should be immediately sent to Andhra Pradesh, just like Somesh Kumar was asked to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre, before more damage is done to the institutions in the state.
