Telangana High Court scraps cadre allotment of Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, asks him to go to AP

HYDERABAD: Telangana High Court on Tuesday struck down the allotment of Chief Secretary to Telangana cadre. He belongs to Andhra Pradesh cadre.

However, during the bifurcating, Somesh Kumar approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and had his cadre allocation to AP stayed.

He was appointed the Chief Secretary on December 31, 2019. The Union Government, which had made the allocation of cadre, appealed to the Telangana High Court to strike down the CAT order.

After multiple hearings, a division bench headed by Chief Justice of Telangana High Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan allowed the appeal of the Centre and struck down the CAT order. As a result, Somesh Kumar will have to move to Andhra Pradesh.

Report suggested that the High Court refused stay the order so as to enable Somesh Kumar to go for an appeal in ten Supreme Court. Hai advocated actually sought time for three weeks.

Somesh Kumar is a 1989 batch IAS officer from Bihar and was allotted to Andhra Pradesh cadre when he was appointed to the Indian Administrative Service.

When Telangana was carved out, the Centre took up the bifurcation of officers too. In the process, some officers of the All India Services approached the CAT seeking to continue in Telangana.

Considering his length of service before attaining the age superannuation, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao appointed him as the Chief Secretary so that there would be continuity in administration for at least three years in the role of Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary used to be called l the Chairman of Board of Revenue.

Incidentally, Somesh Kumar is also holding the additional charge of the principal secretaries of Revenue, Commercial Taxes, Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA).

He will have to get relieved immediately and report for duty in Andhra Pradesh.