The Hyderabad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Friday upheld the appointment of 1975-batch IAS officer S V Prasad as the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh.
CAT vice-chairman Justice P Lakshmana Reddy and member (administration) R Santhanam dismissed a petition filed by two Special Chief Secretary-rank officers Ashok Kumar Goel and Radhey Shyam Goel of the 1974-batch, challenging the appointment of S V Prasad as the Chief Secretary by superseding them.
"The appointment of Prasad to the post of Chief Secretary is legal and valid since he had become eligible for consideration and is deemed to have been promoted to the Fixed Grade of IAS with effect from the afternoon of December 31, 2009," they observed.
They also noted that the law was 'well settled' that the state government has the power to select the person most suitable to hold the post of Chief Secretary from amongst the eligible persons.
"Hence, we did not find any irregularity or illegality in the order appointing him as Chief Secretary," they added and dismissed the petition.