Amaravati, Dec 13 (PTI): The incomplete division of IAS and IPS officers between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has come into focus again after a senior bureaucrat secured an order from the Central Administrative Tribunal, posting her to AP.

Even as the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government was sitting over a decision on withdrawing a pending court litigation on the cadre division matter, 1988 batch IAS officer Yerra Srilakshmi moved the CAT and secured an order last month, getting herself posted to AP from Telangana.

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The AP government issued an order after midnight on Saturday admitting Srilakshmi into duty, subject to confirmation from the Union Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Srilakshmi is not a party in the original CAT orders secured by several other IAS and IPS officers after the state bifurcation in June 2014.

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More than five years after the bifurcation, the Telangana government last year wrote to the Centre consenting to withdraw the case in the high court challenging the CATs series of orders over allocation of IAS and IPS officers to the two state cadres.

Andhra Pradesh government, too, late last year agreed to withdraw the case pertaining to only one IAS officer and wrote to the DoPT accordingly.

As this particular case is linked to the consolidated petition related to several other officers, the DoPT has not yet responded, highly-placed sources in the state government said.

According to the sources, the aggrieved bureaucrats have been waiting for the AP government to take a call to resolve the cadre division issue, which has been stuck in a legal tangle for six years now, since Telangana is now ready to implement the CAT orders.

At least 11 IAS and six IPS officers approached the CAT soon after the Centre made the cadre allotment when the then united Andhra Pradesh was split into (residual) AP and Telangana states in June, 2014.

The CAT ruled in favour of the officers and directed that they be given the cadre of their choice.

Subsequently, three other IPS officers also filed petitions in the CAT seeking similar relief but their cases are still pending disposal.

The AP government subsequently filed a petition in the then combined high court for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh challenging the CAT orders.

The high court did not pass any interim orders in this regard and the petition remained pending. As the cadre allocating authority, the DoPT has also been a party to the petition in the court, sources said.

AP Principal Finance Secretary Shamsher Singh Rawat (1992) is also waiting for the DoPT call to join Telangana cadre, his preferred choice.

Somesh Kumar (1989), A Vani Prasad (1995), Vakati Karuna (2004), Ronald Rose (2006), M Prasanthi (2009) and Amrapali Kata (2010) have been continuing in Telangana as per their choice though they were allotted to AP.

Amrapali is currently on Central deputation in the Prime Ministers Office.

Similarly, Ch Hari Kiran (2009), Siva Sankar Lotheti, G Srijana (both 2013) are serving in AP, though allotted to Telangana.

If the DoPT concedes the states request, these officers will remain in the cadres of their choice, as per the CAT orders.

In the case of IPS officers, Santosh Mehra (1987), Anjani Kumar (1990), Abhilasha Bisht (1994), J Muralidhar, L S Chowhan and J Parimala Hana Nutan (all three promotes) have been working in Telangana, though allotted to AP.

Three others - Harish Gupta (1992), Amit Garg (1993) and Atul Singh (1995) - challenged in CAT their allotment to AP against their choice of Telangana.

Their cases were still pending before the CAT as they were filed after the disposal of others petitions in favour of the respective officers. Both Garg and Atul Singh are now on Central deputation.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)