Deadline for staff bifurcation ends

While AP wants the committee’s tenure extended at least by a month, the TS government, under pressure from employees, has been unresponsive

With the deadline for the Kamalnathan Committee set to end in a day on August 31, bifurcation of staff between TS and AP is a long way off from being completed.

Suspense continues whether the Centre would extend the committee's deadline or take up bifurcation of staff on its own, by appointing a nodal officer.

The Kamalnathan Committee met in the Secretariat on Monday. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretaries of both the states and an agreement over bifurcation of section officers and assistant section officers in the Secretariat was reached.

However, there has been no consensus on 41 section officers relieved by the TS government which the AP government is reluctant to take.

Before the panel met on Monday, these section officers relieved by the TS government met AP Chief Secretary SP Tucker and requested him to take them into AP government service.

According to sources, the Chief Secretaries decided to write to the Centre about these officers.

The committee's deadline was already extended twice earlier. TS employees associations are strongly opposing any further extension, alleging that the panel is biased towards AP employees and it has been allotting AP-origin staff to Telangana despite there being enough vacancies in AP.

The committee is yet to bifurcate about 8,000 of the 55,000 state-cadre staff.

The bifurcation of section officers and assistant section officers in Secretariat, in addition to bifurcation of 6,000 staff in DME, deputy collectors, deputy superintendents of police etc, could not be completed due to the dispute between AP and TS governments over their allocation.

A majority of the staff in these cadres are of AP-origin and the TS employees are opposing their allotment to Telangana.