HYDERABAD: Senior Counsel DV Seetharama Murthy, representing Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar in the cadre tussle case on Tuesday informed the High Court that the Centre purposefully removed the name of PK Mohanty, the then Chief Secretary of undivided Andhra Pradesh, from the list, denying Somesh Kumar the opportunity to be assigned to the State of Telangana.
After the senior counsel completed his presentation, the state was then ordered to begin its case by a bench consisting of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice S Nanda. Murthy argued before the bench that the Centre’s writ appeal before the High Court contesting the CAT’s relief for Somesh was without merit.
He said that the Union government had failed to present any substantive legal issues. It also didn’t present any legal grounds for interfering with the CAT ruling that invalidated the guidelines and ordered the authorities to keep Somesh Kumar in Telangana.
Denying switching opportunities to unreserved direct recruit outsiders while providing them to reserved direct recruit categories regardless of insider or outsider status breaches Article 14, and hence the instructions are prima facie invalid, Murthy said. As his own daughter and son-in-law were looking forward to the cadre distribution, Mohanty, as a member of the committee that assigns the officers was unconstitutional and drew the requirements of the theory of bias, he said.