Abhishek Mohanty (IPS:2010) will have to join the Andhra Pradesh cadre as the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Hyderabad Branch, on Tuesday, refused to grant him interim relief. However, the tribunal has issued notices to the Union of India, directing it to respond to his plea.
Mohanty, recently relieved from the Telangana cadre and his position as Police Commissioner of Karimnagar, had challenged the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) decision to allot him to Andhra Pradesh. He argued that the authorities overlooked his domicile records and wrongly assessed his eligibility despite his longstanding ties to Hyderabad. Seeking relief, he requested CAT to suspend the MHA order until a final decision is made.
He emphasized that as a permanent resident of Hyderabad, he should have been allotted to the Telangana cadre under paragraph 5.1.3(I) of the Pratyush Sinha Committee’s recommendations. He also cited the case of IAS officer Lotheti Siva Sankar (IAS:2013), whose Telangana cadre allotment was recently overturned by CAT on domicile grounds, arguing that he deserved similar consideration.
Despite previous CAT and high court rulings affirming his Telangana domicile, Mohanty contended that the Union government failed to properly review this aspect when rejecting his representation. He urged the tribunal to direct the Centre to reconsider his case and allow him to continue serving in Telangana until a final verdict is reached.
