Hyderabad: Expressing displeasure at the attitude of the Union government in responding to a petition regarding the appointment of in-charge DGPs to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the Hyderabad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal directed the Centre to explain within 10 days from date the basis and the rationale behind the process of allotment of IPS officers to Telangana state.
The Bench comprising members B.V. Rao (judicial) and Ms Minnie Math-ews (administration) was dealing with the plea by senior IPS officers S.A. Huda and T.P. Das challenging the appointments of J.V. Ramudu and Anurag Sharma as in-charge DGPs to AP and Telangana.
The petitioners challenged the notification of allo-tment of IPS cadre to Telangana and AP contending that taking 1982 as the base year for the allotment was discriminatory and reeked of ulterior motives.
Mohammad Shafiquzzaman, counsel for the petitioners argued that his clients should have been made the DGPs for respective states as they were the mo-st senior among the existing IPS officers in the respective states.
He said that the Telangana state filled its DGP post without the Centre creating a separate DGP post for Telangana state after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. He urged the Tribunal to direct both the states not to accord DGP status and the connected apex pay scale to the two temporary DGPs until the process of appointing regular DGPs to both the states duly involving UPSC in accordance with the existing rules is completed.
At the previous hearing, advocate general of Telangana K. Ramakrishna Reddy asked the petitioners why they had not made Anurag Sharma, the current DGP of Telangana state a party to the case as there were contentions raised against his elevation in the petition and the petitioners had failed to challenge the original notification of the Centre.
The petitioners submitted a memo on Thursday to amend their petitions as pointed out by the advocate-general and the Bench accorded permission.
When the Bench sought response from the counsel of the Centre, he cited technical lapses in the plea and sought more time to file the reply of the Centre.
The Bench took a serious view of it as he had been directed to state the Centre’s stand in this regard. The Bench will start final hearing in the matter within 10 days.
