High Court Refuses Stay On IAS Officers' Transfers

The Telangana High Court today delivered a setback to the four Andhra Pradesh cadre and three Telangana cadre IAS officers who sought judicial intervention against the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) ruling, asking them to report to their allotted States.

The court refused to stay the transfer orders, and directed the officers to first report to their new postings before any further hearings. It said that only after they complied with the transfer orders and reported to their designated States could their petitions be reviewed, and that no immediate intervention would be made.

The court also said that it could not interfere in such matters, and that the appointments of civil servants could not be disputed. It said that IAS officers were appointed for public service, and that they needed to serve wherever they were assigned. Approaching the courts after the tribunal's rejection was not appropriate in such matters, it said.

For the uninitiated, recently several IAS officers were transferred by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) - Ronald Rose, Amrapali Kata, Vakati Karuna and Vani Prasad working in Telangana were transferred to AP, and Srijana Gummala, Lotheti Siva Sankar and Chevuri Hari Kiran working in AP were transferred to Telangana - and had filed a motion petition with the High Court. This petition came after the CAT rejected their plea to stay their transfers.

Representing the IAS officers, their counsel argued that they were challenging the CAT's verdict, and requested the court to review the CAT's order. However, as the CAT's order copy has not yet been issued, they informed the court about the tribunal's admittance of the officers' petitions. The next hearing at CAT is scheduled for November 4, and the IAS counsel requested that the officers not be relieved from their current duties until then.