The cadre allotment dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for All India Services (AIS) officers remains unresolved even a decade after the bifurcation of the two states.
In a significant development, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Friday set aside the Department of Personnel and Training’s (DoPT) order allocating IAS officer Siva Sankar Lotheti to Telangana. The tribunal directed the DoPT to reassign him to the Andhra Pradesh cadre within four weeks.
The CAT bench, comprising judicial member Dr. Lata Baswaraj Patne and administrative member Varun Sindhu Kulkaumudi, ruled in favor of Siva Sankar, citing that his domicile is Andhra Pradesh. He had challenged the Pratyush Sinha and Khandekar committees’ decision, arguing that they wrongly considered his domicile as Telangana based on his correspondence address rather than his place of birth, education, and permanent address as per the UPSC dossier. After multiple rounds of litigation, CAT once again upheld his argument. The tribunal reached its decision within four months of Lotheti’s petition.
In October 2024, the DoPT had rejected the representations of Siva Sankar, C. Hari Kiran, and G. Srujana to continue in Andhra Pradesh, as well as those of V. Karuna, A. Vani Prasad, Ronald Rose, and Amrapali Kata to remain in Telangana. It ordered all seven officers to report to their allocated cadre. The officers challenged the decision before CAT, but no interim stay was granted, leading them to approach the High Court. The High Court also refused relief, forcing the officers to finally join their assigned cadres—10 years after the bifurcation.
The CAT ruling in Siva Sankar’s case is expected to impact other officers as well, particularly G. Srujana, who was assigned her cadre based on similar criteria. If she pursues her case in CAT, she is likely to receive a similar ruling.
Interestingly, Amrapali Kata’s case is linked to Srujana’s, as Amrapali had opted for Telangana under a mutual swap agreement with her. Amrapali’s contention is that the DoPT denied her the right to swap with an officer of the same category and time scale. While CAT initially granted her interim relief, allowing her to continue in Telangana, the DoPT issued fresh orders following a High Court directive. The final outcome of her case may now depend on how Srujana’s case unfolds.
