HC Directs DoPT To Reallocate Siva Shankar To AP
Telangana High Court on Thursday upheld the orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Hyderabad, directing the Union Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to reassign IAS officer Lotheti Siva Shankar’s cadre to Andhra Pradesh.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday upheld the orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Hyderabad, directing the Union Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to reassign IAS officer Lotheti Siva Shankar’s cadre to Andhra Pradesh.
A Division Bench, Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice Tirumala Devi Eada, dismissed the DoPT’s petition challenging the CAT’s February 28, 2025 order. That order had instructed the DoPT to treat Siva Shankar as an insider of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, based on his domicile, and to issue the necessary cadre-allocation orders within four weeks. When the DoPT failed to comply, Siva Shankar filed a contempt petition before the CAT.
At the High Court hearing, P.S. Rajashekar, counsel for Siva Shankar, pointed out that the DoPT had flouted the Pratyush Sinha committee guidelines on cadre allocation. Instead of considering the officer’s birthplace, schooling and his own declaration of nativity during training, the DoPT relied solely on the address Siva Shankar had given for UPSC communications, an address he had used temporarily while caring for his bedridden father in Ranga Reddy district. In fact, Siva Shankar was born and raised in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, and had opted for that cadre during the allocation process.
Having reviewed these facts, the High Court found no merit in the DoPT’s challenge and affirmed the CAT’s decision to reallocate Siva Shankar to the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
