CAT directs Kerala govt to allow IAS officer B. Ashok to continue in present post, stays deputation to LSGD

CAT directs Kerala government to allow senior IAS officer B. Ashok to remain as Agricultural Production Commissioner.

The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Ernakulam Bench, on Friday (January 17, 2025) directed the Kerala government to allow senior IAS officer B. Ashok who has been proposed to be deputed as chairperson of the Local Self-Government Reforms Commission to continue in his present post as Principal Secretary, Agriculture, and Agricultural Production Commissioner.

The tribunal passed the order on an application filed by Mr. Ashok challenging the government order placing his service on deputation basis at the disposal of the Local Self-Government department (LSGD) for being appointed as the Local Self Government Reforms Commission chairperson.

When the petition came up for hearing, the government pleader submitted that Tinku Biswal, Revenue Secretary, had been given additional charge of Principal Secretary, Agriculture, and Agricultural Production Commissioner. However, the tribunal ordered that he be allowed to continue in his current post.

According to him, he is now Principal Secretary and working as Agricultural Production Commissioner besides holding the post of director of Kerala Climate Resilient Agri-Value Chain Modernisation (KERA) Project.

He contended that the government order placing him at the disposal of the Local Self-Government department was in “total violation” of all the legal provisions. The government does not have any power or jurisdiction to put him on deputation without his consent and therefore, the decision was in violation of the provisions of the All India Services (Cadres) Rules.

The post in Local Self-Government Reforms Commission to which he was proposed to be deputed is not equivalent to that of the post of Principal Secretary which he is holding now. The determination of the equivalence was done by the government without any application of mind, he contended.

Besides, he was placed at the disposal of the Local Self-Government department even before constituting the reforms commission or even fixing the staff pattern, including the decision that it should be headed by an officer in the rank of Principal Secretary. It was a forced deputation rather than a mandatory one, forcing him to move out of his cadre post and join a deputation post. It was done without seeking his consent, he contended.