Hyderabad: After years of waiting, senior IAS officer A Vani Prasad, recently reallocated to the Telangana cadre following court intervention, has been posted as Special Chief Secretary for Youth Affairs, Tourism and Culture (YAT&C).
Her posting was notified through GO no 431 issued by the General Administration (SPL-A) Department on April 1.
The appointment follows a Telangana High Court order directing the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to reassign her to the state. The DoPT subsequently allotted her to the Telangana cadre.
A 1995-batch IAS officer, Vani Prasad had challenged the Centre’s decision to allocate her to the Andhra Pradesh cadre, despite asserting her eligibility for Telangana. She first approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which declined to interfere in cadre allocation matters, after which she moved the High Court.
Before the court, her counsel argued that her being recorded as born in Guntur was incidental, as her mother delivered there, and that her education and upbringing were in Hyderabad. They contended this established her claim to the Telangana cadre.
The High Court observed that domicile and residence are key criteria under the Presidential Order governing cadre allocation, and held that assigning her to Andhra Pradesh solely on the basis of place of birth was untenable. It subsequently ordered her reallocation to Telangana.
Prior to this, she was serving as Special Chief Secretary (Labour) in Andhra Pradesh.
Vani Prasad will replace Jayesh Ranjan, who was holding additional charge of the YAT&C department. Ranjan will, however, continue to hold full additional charge as Special Chief Secretary for Sports, along with his existing role in Metropolitan Area and Urban Development (MA&UD).
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