HYDERABAD: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) which comes under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has directed five AIS (All India Service) officers working in Andhra Pradesh cadre - SS Rawat, C Harikiran, G Anantha Ramu, Srijana Gummala and Sivsankar Lotheti - to report to the Telangana government.
Additionally, the Union government also rejected the request of a few officers, including GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) Commissioner Amrapali Kata and Energy Secretary Ronald Rose, to continue in the Telangana cadre. These AIS officers have been directed to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
Ronald Rose was specifically asked to report to the AP government by October 16, 2024. They urged the Union government, upon High Court orders, to allow them to continue in the Telangana cadre.
They had approached the Central Administration Tribunal (CAT) against the orders of the Pratyush Sinha Committee, which recommended distribution of AIS officers between residuary Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2015. The CAT ruled in their favour, but the High Court, in a judgment dated January 3, 2024, stated: “The cases of the officers deserve to be reconsidered for final allocation strictly in accordance with the guidelines framed based on the recommendations of Pratyush Sinha Committee. Therefore, the Union government shall give an opportunity of personal hearing to the officers and pass appropriate orders by law.”
Following this verdict, the Union government constituted a single-member committee with retired IAS officer Deepak Khandekar on March 2, 2024. The Khandekar committee held personal hearings and submitted its report to the DoPT.
Amrapali Kata case
Rejecting Amrapali Kata’s plea to consider her domicile as Telangana, Khandekar Committee noted that the IAS officer had, in her representation to the Pratyush Sinha Committee on August 27, 2014, sought to be treated as a “native of Telangana and be allocated the same cadre. She said she had mentioned her permanent address as “Visakhapatnam” in UPSC form only for correspondence purposes. However, the Pratyush Sinha Committee, in a meeting held in September 2014, observed that the domicile status of an officer has been decided as per approved principles and thus the request of the Amrapali Kata was beyond the purview of principles approved and such the representation could not be entertained. Now, the Khandekar Committee has also upheld the decision of the Pratyush Sinha Committee.
All eyes are now on the AIS officers to see whether they will move the Supreme Court against the Department of Personnel & Training’s decision.