HYDERABAD: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) at Hyderabad has allowed the petition of 2010-batch IAS officer Amrapali Kata, directing the authorities to allot her to the Telangana cadre.
The tribunal pulled up the government for adopting a selective approach in applying the Pratyush Sinha Committee guidelines, describing the inconsistency as discriminatory.
Amrapali Kata, currently serving as the managing director of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, had approached the tribunal after the Union government rejected her request to allot her Telangana cadre last year.
The bench, comprising Judicial Member Dr Lata Baswaraj Patne and Administrative Member Varun Sindhu Kul Kaumudi, noted that while the guidelines framed by the Pratyush Sinha Committee were being strictly applied in some cases, they were relaxed arbitrarily for others without valid justification. The tribunal held that such selective implementation amounts to discrimination and found merit in Amrapali’s arguments.
Observing that the authorities failed to provide a rationale for denying her request while accommodating others, the tribunal allowed her plea and directed the government to take appropriate steps for her cadre transfer to Telangana.