The All India Service Officers provisionally allotted to Telangana but working in Andhra Pradesh will be relieved after the State Cabinet meeting on January 2. The Telangana government however relieved five IAS and 12 IPS officers who were allotted to Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday.
As many as 52 IAS officers were allotted to Telangana from Andhra Pradesh and 31 IAS officers from Telangana to AP in the provisional list released by the DoPT on December 26. Interestingly, some officers holding important responsibilities in one State were allotted to the other such as Somesh Kumar, Poonam Malakondaiah, B.P. Acharya in Telangana and Ajay Sawhney, Ajay Jain, J.S.V. Prasad in Andhra Pradesh. The DoPT notification however exempted six officers including J.S.V. Prasad who contended that their nativity was wrongly projected to continue in the States they were now serving till the final allocation. It is expected that they will use the swapping option to remain in the State cadre of their choice. It is assumed that the officers holding key assignments will be retained by their respective States and in the meantime they would exercise the swapping and other options within 15 days. In case swapping is not possible within the same category of officers, States may explore the route of deputation, sources said. The States however have to seek the approval of the DoPT for retaining officers allotted to the other State. Highly placed sources said that there should not be any difficulty in retaining these officers. Otherwise as per the rules, they have to be first relieved and then brought back with the mutual understanding between the two States .
