Twelve years after the Supreme Court had stayed the transfer of 22 civil servants from Uttar Pradesh to the newly-formed State of Uttarakhand, the apex court vacated its stay rendering the fate of the officers, presently in IAS cadre, in jeopardy. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu dismissed the petitions filed by the officers who came to court, alleging fault with their transfer to the Uttarakhand civil services. The officers, who then were under Provincial Civil Services (PCS), were granted status quo by court in 2003, allowing them to continue service in UP.
But on Thursday, things took a sudden turn when the apex court found no purpose in keeping the matter pending, especially since most of the officers had either retired or had become Central cadre IAS and IPS. But while dismissing the batch of petitions, the Bench refused to take note of the predicament of the two States UP and Uttarakhand. The dismissal of the petitions would automatically mean that the officers have to shift to Uttarakhand.
The counsel for UP Abhisht Kumar informed the Bench that the dismissal was riddled with practical difficulties as Uttarakhand has limited cadre strength to accommodate senior IAS/IPS officers. Moreover, these officers who are of 1991 cadre will lose seniority on shifting to the new state. This in turn would lead to further litigation.
Ironically, six IAS officers, namely SK Verma, Ajay Joshi, Ashok Kumar Verma, Jetendra Kumar, Chanchal Kumar Tiwari and Arun Arya, had opted Uttarakhand but did not join here. later, Ajay Joshi joined Uttarakhand and returned to Uttar Pradesh and now retired.