Telangana High Court Puts CAT Ruling on Hold in IAS Officer Amrapali Kata’s Cadre Dispute; Centre’s Challenge Admitted
The Telangana High Court on Monday granted an interim stay on an earlier order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had directed the allocation of IAS officer Amrapali Kata to the Telangana cadre. The stay was issued after the court took up a petition filed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which has challenged the tribunal’s ruling.
Admitting the Centre’s plea, the High Court restrained the implementation of the CAT’s order and asked the counsel representing IAS officer Amrapali Kata to file a detailed counter-affidavit. The matter has been adjourned for further hearing after six weeks, indicating that a final decision on the cadre allocation issue will take additional time.
Background of the CAT Order
In June 2025, the Hyderabad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal had ruled in favor of Amrapali Kata, a 2010-batch IAS officer, directing the Union government to allot her to the Telangana cadre. The tribunal came down strongly on the government for what it termed a “selective and inconsistent” application of the cadre allocation guidelines framed on the basis of the Pratyush Sinha Committee’s recommendations.
The CAT observed that while these guidelines were strictly enforced in certain cases, they were diluted or ignored in others without any logical or legal justification. Such differential treatment, the tribunal held, amounted to discrimination and violated the principles of fairness and equality. Finding merit in Kata’s arguments, the CAT directed the authorities to take necessary steps to effect her cadre transfer to Telangana.
Currently, Amrapali Kata is serving as the Managing Director of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. She had approached the tribunal after the Union government rejected her request last year to be allocated to the Telangana cadre.
Centre’s Stand and High Court Intervention
The DoPT challenged the CAT’s June 2025 order before the Telangana High Court, arguing that the tribunal had erred in interfering with the cadre allocation process and that the decisions were taken after due consideration of applicable rules and committee recommendations.
Accepting the preliminary submissions of the Centre, the High Court stayed the tribunal’s order, effectively maintaining the status quo until the matter is heard in detail. The court’s direction to seek a counter from the IAS officer signals that the issue will now undergo judicial scrutiny at a higher level.
Earlier DoPT Orders and Related Cases
Amrapali Kata was among four IAS officers—Ronald Rose, Vani Prasad, Kata herself, and Karuna Vakati—who were directed by the DoPT in October last year to report for duty in Andhra Pradesh. At that time, the High Court had declined to grant interim relief, and the CAT, while hearing petitions challenging the DoPT’s order, had also instructed the officers to comply and join duties as directed.
On October 10, 2024, the DoPT formally relieved five IAS officers (including one already serving in Andhra Pradesh) from their existing assignments and instructed them to join their respective allocated state cadres. In the same decision, the Centre rejected the claims of eight All India Service (AIS) officers—comprising five IAS and three Indian Police Service (IPS) officers—who had sought allocation to the Telangana cadre.
These officers were originally assigned to the Andhra Pradesh cadre following the bifurcation of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh in 2014. However, they had challenged this allocation and sought transfer to Telangana, citing personal, administrative, and guideline-based grounds.
Role of Committees and Earlier Court Directions
The DoPT’s decision to reject the requests for Telangana cadre posting was taken on the basis of recommendations made by a single-member committee headed by former DoPT Secretary Deepak Khandekar. This committee was constituted specifically to re-examine the final allocation of AIS officers in compliance with judicial directions.
Following the state’s bifurcation in 2014, the Union government had redistributed IAS and IPS officers between the successor states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Several officers later contested their re-allocation before the CAT, which ruled in favour of some of them. The Centre, in turn, challenged those CAT orders before the High Court.
In a significant judgment dated January 3, 2024, the Telangana High Court directed that the cases of AIS officers seeking cadre reallocation should be reconsidered in line with the guidelines formulated on the recommendations of the Pratyush Sinha Committee. Acting on this directive, the DoPT constituted the Khandekar Committee in March 2024 to reassess the final cadre allocation between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
What Lies Ahead
With the High Court now staying the CAT’s order in Amrapali Kata’s case, the legal battle over cadre allocation remains unresolved. The final outcome will depend on the High Court’s interpretation of the Pratyush Sinha Committee guidelines, the consistency of their application by the Centre, and the balance between administrative discretion and individual officer rights.
Until a final verdict is delivered, the question of Amrapali Kata’s allocation to the Telangana cadre will remain in abeyance, adding another chapter to the long-running legal dispute arising from the 2014 bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
