Hyderabad: The Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Wednesday, February 27, refused to extend interim relief to former director of Telangana police academy and IPS officer Abhilasha Bisht against her transfer to Andhra Pradesh (AP).
On February 21, the Union home ministry issued transfer orders for three IPS officers, including Bisht, former Telangana DGP and chairman for road safety Anjani Kumar and former Karimnagar commissioner of police Abhishek Mohanty to join the AP cadre.
Bist had challenged the order and approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Hyderabad to reconsider her transfer.
The tribunal bench comprising judicial member Dr Lata Baswaraj Patne and administrative member Shalini Misra heard Bisht’s petition and issued notices to the Centre, AP and Telangana governments directing them to respond to the IPS officer’s application.
Bisht’s counsel had requested the bench to stay the transfer order till the Union and both the state governments filed their contentions. However, the bench refused to do so.
Following Centre’s order, Telangana govt releases IPS officers to join AP cadre
Following the refusal, Bisht will report to the Andhra Pradesh government. In the meantime, the bench will hear her application.
Bisht, a 1994 batch IPS officer was initially allotted the West Bengal cadre. In 1997, she joined the United AP cadre when she married fellow IPS officer Kumar Viswajeet. In 2014, when Bisht was allotted the AP cadre, she approached CAT which stayed the allotment. Following a long legal battle, the court upheld the Centre’s allotment and refused to interfere.
Bisht’s appeal at the CAT came after she was relieved from the Telangana cadre. Along with her, former Telangana DGP and chairman for road safety Anjani Kumar and former Karimnagar commissioner of police Abhishek Mohanty were also relieved and have been directed to join the AP cadre.
During the bifurcation of Telangana from undivided Andhra Pradesh, a few IPS officers were allocated service in the AP cadre by the department of personnel and training.
In March 2016, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Hyderabad passed transfer orders for Anjani Kumar, Abhilasha Bisht, Abhishek Mohanty along with IAS officers D Ronald Rose, Amrapali Katta, and seven others to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Their allocation was challenged by the department of Personnel and training, Government of India. However, they obtained a stay on their reallocation to AP. This was undone on Friday, following the orders from the MHA, leaving the IPS officers with no other options than joining the AP cadre to continue their civil service career.
