HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday adjourned a batch of 13 writ petitions filed by the Union home ministry and the Union department of personnel and training (DoPT) that sought suspension of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad Bench, orders allocating three IPS officers and 10 IAS officers to Telangana, against their original allocation to Andhra Pradesh.
The petitions were listed before the division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji under ‘covered matters,’ which is similar to the Union government’s petition against the then Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar. In the Somesh Kumar matter, the High Court ordered by quashing the CAT orders of CAT and sent Somesh Kumar to Andhra Pradesh.
As the cases were listed as ‘covered matters,’ the bench said they would be heard separately as the CAT had given orders in each officer’s case separately. The High Court also said that the cases would be listed before the regular bench, which has a roster to hear petitions challenging the CAT orders.
Meanwhile, Gadi Praveen Kumar, deputy solicitor general, representing the Centre, sought time because additional solicitor general T. Surya Karan Reddy would appear on behalf of the petitioners.
Accepting his request, the court adjourned the cases to January 27, to be heard by a regular bench.
These 13 all-India service Officers are working in Telangana, based on the order of the CAT, Hyderabad, in 2016. The CAT had then set aside the Centre’s allocation order and had directed the Telangana government to treat the 13 officers as allocated to Telangana state.
Challenging the CAT orders, the Union government had filed petitions before the Telangana High Court in 2017. The petitions have been pending since then, IPS officer Abhishek Mohanty`s case has been pending since 2022.
