Hyderabad, Dec 8 (IANS) The Telangana High Court on Monday stayed the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) allotting IAS officer Amrapali Kata to the Telangana cadre.

The stay was granted on a petition by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), challenging the CAT order.

The court directed the IAS officer’s counsel to file the counter and adjourned the hearing for six weeks.

In June 2025, the Hyderabad branch of CAT allowed the petition of the 2010-batch IAS officer to direct the authorities to allot her to the Telangana cadre.

The CAT pulled up the government for adopting a selective approach in applying the Pratyush Sinha Committee guidelines, describing the inconsistency as discriminatory.

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 be allotted to the Telangana cadre last year.

The CAT 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. Holding that such selective implementation amounts to discrimination, it found merit in Kata’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.

Kata was one of the four IAS officers who were directed by DoPT in October last year to join duties in Andhra Pradesh.

Ronald Rose, Vani Prasad, Kata, and Karuna Vakati had to join the duties as the High Court had declined to pass any orders. The CAT, while hearing the petitions challenging the DoPT order, had also asked the officers to join duties as directed by the DoPT.

The DoPT, on October 10, 2024, issued orders, relieving the five IAS officials (including one officer currently serving in Andhra Pradesh) from their current postings and directing them to join their respective state cadres.

It had rejected the claim of eight All India Service (AIS) officers to allocate them to the Telangana cadre.

The request of five IAS and three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers was rejected.

These officers were allocated to the Andhra Pradesh cadre following the bifurcation of the state in 2014, but they had challenged the same and had requested that they be allocated Telangana cadre.

The decision was taken by the DoPT following a recommendation by a single-member committee comprising former DoPT Secretary Deepak Khandekar, which was constituted to reconsider the final allocation of AIS officers.

Following the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the union government had re-allotted IAS and IPS officers working in the undivided state to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh and the newly created Telangana state.

Some of the officers had challenged their re-allocation and approached the CAT, which had ruled in their favour. The DoPT had challenged the CAT orders in the High Court.

The Telangana High Court, in its order of January 3, 2024, had ruled that the cases of the AIS officers should be reconsidered for final allocation in accordance with the guidelines framed on the basis of the recommendations of the Pratyush Sinha committee between the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Acting on the High Court, the DoPT had constituted the Khandekar committee in March 2024 for reconsideration of the final allocation.

–IANS

ms/vd