HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Monday stayed the operation of GO 121 under which the State government had commenced the process of redeploying 5,138 Village Revenue Officers (VROs) working in various districts to other departments.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice CV Bhaskara Reddy held that the GO issued on July 23 applied to the 56 VROs also who have not yet reported to their new work location. The bench asked them to retain in the Revenue Department, allocate work and pay them wages till further orders.
The bench issued the stay orders in a writ petition filed by the Telangana Village Revenue Officers Association represented by its president Golkanda Satish.
Counsel for the petitioners PV Krishnaiah informed the court that the Telangana Government had issued a GO for redeploying VROs in other departments in sheer and blatant violation of various sections of the Act, 2020 as the Finance department has no role in the issue of redeployment of VROs in other departments. He held that the Chief Secretary has no authority to issue such an order.
The Chief Justice questioned Advocate General BS Prasad on why the government of Telangana had not framed the rules, observing that “instructions issued in the GO 121, particularly those in paragraph no.3, appear to be beyond the mandate of Sub Section of 1 of Section 5 of the Act, 2020.”
The Advocate General informed the court that the services of the VROs are no longer necessary because the all revenue records of the State have been digitalised and incorporated in the “Dharani Portal.” Only 56 of the State’s 5138 VROs have yet to report, and when it comes to redeployment, the AG noted that it is the government’s policy choice to redeploy them in other departments.