HC junks IAS officer’s plea for cadre change

Ahmedabad: Gujarat high court has dismissed a petition filed by Hitesh Kumar Makwana, a 1995-batch IAS officer and Surveyor General of India, seeking to change his cadre from Tamil Nadu to Gujarat, his native state. The court observed that altering the cadre at the end of Makwana’s career would create a cascading effect on other appointments within the cadre.
Makwana has been fighting this legal battle since 1996, shortly after his cadre allocation.He initially requested the central govt to appoint him in the Gujarat cadre, arguing that under the 2:1 cadre allotment ratio for outsiders and insiders, he should have been placed in Gujarat as an insider. After being denied, he took his case to the Central Administrative Tribunal and then to the HC.
Makwana insisted on the Gujarat cadre as a Scheduled Caste candidate, but the govt rejected his request, citing no vacancies for insiders in the category at the time. He argued that there were no available candidates in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) insider category and his candidature should have been considered by converting OBC vacancy.
The Centre maintained that cadre allocation follows strict rules and insider OBC vacancies can only be reallocated under specific conditions involving corresponding outsider vacancies. The policy is strictly followed to ensure there is no disruption in reserved category slots. The Centre said the petitioner had no inherent right to his home state’s cadre and that cadre allocation is an administrative matter, subject to judicial review only in clear cases of discrimination.