Telangana high court tells IPS officer to stay in state until CAT resolves plea

Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Monday directed the Centre and the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to allow IPS officer Abhishek Mohanty to remain in Telangana until the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) resolves his petition challenging the ministry of home affairs' decision to transfer him to AP.
A bench of Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice E Tirumala Devi passed this order while disposing of the petition with a request to CAT to resolve the issue in an expeditious manner.
The bench had previously sought clarification from the Centre on whether it was aware of the Telangana govt's GO (No. 583, issued on March 14, 2022), which allocated Abhishek to the Telangana cadre. "Tell us whether you considered this GO when rejecting his representation for allotment to the Telangana cadre on Feb 19, 2025," the bench had asked the Union govt.
During Monday's resumed hearing, B Narasimha Sarma, additional solicitor general, representing the MHA, informed the court that the Centre was unaware of the GO. "It was marked to us, but it never reached us," he said.
Abhishek's counsel, PS Rajasekhar, explained that this GO formed the basis for his allotment to Telangana. He added that the GO was issued following a judgment by the CAT, which directed the Centre to allot the Telangana cadre to Abhishek, given that his domicile was Hyderabad, Telangana. "This decision has not been disturbed, and even the high court has not interfered with it. That means GO 583 is still in force, as it was never challenged," Rajasekhar said.
In response, Sarma agreed that Abhishek could remain in Telangana for now. "We will file our counter soon before the CAT and request the tribunal to adjudicate on Abhishek's plea promptly, without being influenced by the high court's observations," he said.
The bench urged the CAT to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.