The Telangana High Court has imposed an interim stay on the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order that sought to allocate IAS officer Amrapali to the Telangana cadre through a swap arrangement with IAS officer Harikiran.
The CAT had earlier ruled in favour of Amrapali, directing her allocation to the Telangana cadre by swapping positions with Harikiran. However, the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) challenged this decision before the High Court.
The DOPT argued that the swapping arrangement does not apply in this particular case. The department cited that Harikiran belongs to a reserved category, which makes the proposed swap invalid under existing cadre allocation rules.
During the hearing, the Telangana High Court granted an interim stay on the CAT order. The court has directed Amrapali’s legal counsel to file a counter-affidavit in response to the DOPT’s challenge.
The next hearing in the case has been postponed for six weeks. Until the court takes up the matter again, the CAT order remains frozen and cannot be implemented.
The case has evolved from a routine bureaucratic matter into a significant legal battle. The outcome could have implications for how cadre allocation and swapping arrangements are handled for civil servants, particularly when reserved category considerations are involved.
The dispute centres on the interpretation of cadre allocation rules and whether swapping provisions can be applied when one of the officers involved belongs to a reserved category. The DOPT maintains that such swaps violate the principles governing cadre allocation for reserved category officers.
Amrapali had approached the CAT seeking her allocation to Telangana, and the tribunal had ruled in her favour. However, with the High Court’s intervention, the matter now requires judicial determination before any final decision can be implemented.
The case will resume after six weeks when both parties are expected to present their arguments before the Telangana High Court. The court’s final decision will determine whether the CAT order stands or gets set aside based on the validity of the swapping arrangement.
