Senior IAS officer Shafiquzzaman moved the Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday challenging the extension of service granted to chief secretary Minnie Mathew for a period of three months by the state government.
The petitioner also challenged the appointment of PK Mohanty as the chief commissioner of land administration. On Jan 31 this year the state government issued a GO extending the service of Minnie Mathew for a period of three months and another GO on the same day appointing Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, a 1979-batch of IAS officer, as the CCLA.
Shafiquzzaman contended that the extension granted to Minnie Mathew was against the All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules 1958. He urged the tribunal to direct the government to produce the records pertaining to grant of extension to the CS.
Terming the appointment of PK Mohanty as illegal, Shafiquzzaman contended that the government had no power to post Mohanty as the CCLA without promoting him to the apex scale. The appointment was against Rule 97 of the IAS Pay Rules, he said.