The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Tuesday relieved Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar from the state's service with immediate effect and directed him to join the Andhra Pradesh government, latest by January 12.
The central government's instruction came a few hours after the Telangana high court set aside the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), allocating Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Somesh Kumar to Telangana in 2016. The court quashed his allotment to the Telangana cadre.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Surepalli Nanda allowed the writ petition filed by the DoPT seeking suspension of the CAT order.
The CAT's Hyderabad bench passed an order on March 29, 2016, allotting Somesh Kumar to Telangana.
Counsel for Somesh Kumar has requested the court keep the order in abeyance so that an appeal can be filed.
The High Court had reserved its order in July, and it was pronounced on Tuesday.
Also read | Telangana High Court Sets Aside CAT Order On Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar
Following the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh into two separate states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014, the Union government re-allotted IAS and IPS officers working in the undivided state to the residual state of Andhra Pradesh and the newly-created Telangana state.
In this process, Somesh Kumar, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch, was allotted to Andhra Pradesh by the DoPT.
However, Somesh Kumar had moved the CAT and secured an order staying his allotment to the Andhra Pradesh cadre. Since then, he has continued in Telangana and became Chief Secretary in 2019.
The DoPT had filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the stay order of the CAT, Hyderabad branch.
Meanwhile, Somesh Kumar called Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. They believed they had discussed the High Court order.
Somesh Kumar is likely to file an appeal against the Telangana High Court order.
(With IANS inputs)