Telangana HC quashes CAT order allocating CS. Somesh Kumar to Telangana

Hyderabad, Jan 10: Telangana High Court on Tuesday quashed the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)-Hyderabad order allocating senior IAS officer and Chief Secretary(CS) Somesh Kumar to Telangana.
A bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Surepalli Nanda, which pronounced the order, allowed the writ petition filed by the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) challenging the CAT order.Following creation of Telangana State as per Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act-2014, the DoPT re-allotted the All India Services officers between the residuary AP State and newly carved out Telangana State.
While Somesh Kumar opted for Telangana, he was allotted the AP cadre based on advisory committee recommendations.The allotment was challenged by Somesh Kumar before the CAT, which on March 29, 2016, held that the allocation was contrary to guidelines and Section 80 of the Reorganisation Act and directed the Centre Government to treat Somesh Kumar as with the Telangana cadre with all consequential benefits.Within hours after the High Court judgment, the DoPT issued orders stating that in compliance with the judgment, Somesh Kumar, IAS, stood relieved from the State government of Telangana with immediate effect, and directed him to join the State government of Andhra Pradesh, latest by January 12.In a separate statements, BJP and Congress parties have welcomed the high court order directing Somesh Kumar IAS to return to his original cadre allotment in Andhra Pradesh.
In a statement, State BJP Chief Spokesperson K.Krishna Sagar Rao said the BJP stands vindicated of our earlier charge that Chief Minister KCR was holding ‘out of cadre’ IAS officers for his ‘special interest’ against central government administrative norms.“ I have a few pointed questions to CM KCR – why should he opt for favorites amongst IAS officers, especially those who are not even assigned the Telangana State cadre? What do these officers enable for KCR.
? Why are these officers being given plum posts and are made to dominate and override all other administrative officers of Telangana State cadre”, he questioned.Mr Somesh Kumar, must immediately follow the High Court order and return to his assigned cadre allotment in Andhra Pradesh, he added.Taking to micro blogging platform Twitter, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Revanth Reddy claimed that “we have been saying from the beginning that the appointment of CS Somesh Kumar is illegal”. The high Court said the same now.
The CBI should investigate the decisions taken by Somesh Kumar as Chief Secretary, Dharani, head of CCLA and RERA, he tweeted. In another separate statement, BJP senior leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy while welcoming the High court order, said the order of the Telangana high court to send back chief secretary Somesh Kumar to his allotted state of Andhra Pradesh can be summed up simply as good riddance.
Democracy will be the biggest gainer with this, he said.
Even after being allotted to AP cadres, he managed to continue in Telangana on the basis of an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, he said.
Somesh Kumar was promoted as the state chief secretary and has throughout worked as an agent of the TRS, Reddy said.
He has the dubious distinction of having attended a TRS party office inauguration programme along with CM KCR last year. His exit is very welcome, he added.