Hyderabad Bench: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Service Cases

Two states, one tribunal bench

When Andhra Pradesh was divided on 2 June 2014, the state government's courts and offices were split, but the Central Administrative Tribunal did not open a second bench. The Hyderabad Bench still hears service matters of central government staff from all of Telangana and all of residuary Andhra Pradesh. A postal assistant in Adilabad, a scientist in Sriharikota and a clerk in a customs house in Visakhapatnam all file in the same registry.

The bench works from HACA Bhavan, opposite the Public Garden in Hyderabad. Case numbers of this bench start with the code 020, so an Original Application filed in 2026 will read something like O.A. 020/00XXX/2026. That code is useful when you check status online or search for old orders on your own issue.

A plain word before going further: B.K. Singh & Associates is a private law firm and this page belongs to us, not to the tribunal. We have no access to the bench's internal listing. Cause lists, defect memos and official notices come from the tribunal's own portal or its registry counter.

The Vijayawada circuit bench

In February 2025 the tribunal's Chairman announced a circuit bench at Vijayawada working under the Hyderabad Bench, and it was inaugurated by video on 17 February 2025. For employees and pensioners in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, this cuts out a long journey. Matters from Andhra Pradesh can be listed for hearing there when the circuit bench sits.

A circuit bench is not a separate tribunal. Your case remains a Hyderabad Bench case with a 020 number, and the registry at Hyderabad decides which matters go to the Vijayawada list and on which dates. The sitting days are notified from time to time. Before you or your counsel plan travel, check the current notice; do not assume a hearing will be at Vijayawada simply because you live in Guntur or Eluru.

In our experience, the circuit sittings suit straightforward pension, pay and recovery matters where the papers speak for themselves. If you need an urgent stay against a transfer that takes effect on Monday, the main bench at Hyderabad, or a video mention there, is often the quicker route.

Who files here, and who has to go somewhere else

• Central civil employees posted in either state. Railway, postal, income tax, customs and GST, CPWD, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya staff, and civilians in defence units such as the Naval Dockyard at Visakhapatnam or the cantonment offices at Secunderabad.
• Staff of notified societies and bodies. CSIR laboratories such as CCMB, IICT and NGRI, and ICAR institutes in Hyderabad, come to this bench because those bodies are notified under Section 14(2). If your employer is an autonomous body, confirm the notification before filing.
• Pensioners and family pensioners. A retired central employee who now lives in Telangana or Andhra Pradesh may file here even if the last posting was elsewhere, using Rule 6(2) of the procedure rules.
• Candidates for central posts. Disputes about recruitment by RRB Secunderabad, the Department of Posts or central offices recruiting directly usually come to this bench. SSC GD Constable and CAPF Sub-Inspector disputes are an exception and go to a High Court.
• Not this bench: state government staff. The old Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal was abolished, so state employees of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh now go to their own High Court, not to CAT.
• Not this bench: PSU, bank and CAPF personnel. People on the rolls of BHEL, ECIL, NMDC, BDL, HAL, Singareni Collieries or a nationalised bank normally approach the High Court by writ, and so do CRPF, CISF and other CAPF personnel. Uniformed Army, Navy and Air Force members use the Armed Forces Tribunal. See our page on CAPF, PSU and bank service writs.

Central offices in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that send most cases

South Central Railway is the biggest single source. Its headquarters at Rail Nilayam in Secunderabad, the Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions, and the workshops at Lallaguda and Tirupati together employ a very large workforce, and a steady flow of pay fixation, MACP, running allowance and discipline cases follows. Railway offices at Visakhapatnam add to it. For railway-specific rules, see our page on railway staff service cases.

Hyderabad is also a science and defence town. DRDO laboratories such as DRDL, RCI, DMRL and ASL, ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre, and the launch centre at Sriharikota in Tirupati district produce disputes about assessment promotions, pay level placement and deputation. Our page for scientists in ISRO, DRDO and CSIR covers those rules in detail.

Then there are the two postal circles, with thousands of Gramin Dak Sevaks spread across villages from Khammam to Anantapur, the CBIC and Income Tax offices in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, the Eastern Naval Command's civilian establishment, and Central Government Health Scheme units in both capitals. Each has its own recruitment rules and disciplinary chain, and each sends cases to this one bench.

The rules that decide filing at Hyderabad

Allocation disputes after bifurcation

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 required All India Services officers and state government staff to be divided between the two new states. For All India Services officers, the Department of Personnel and Training made the allocation, and several officers who preferred the other state challenged it. Those cases came to the Hyderabad Bench, and some were still being argued ten years later.

The October 2024 round showed how these cases tend to end. A group of IAS officers working in Telangana but allocated to Andhra Pradesh asked the tribunal to stop the DoPT direction to report to their allotted state. The bench did not grant them interim relief, the Telangana High Court declined to interfere, and the officers had to join. The lesson for anyone with a similar grievance is that allocation is treated as a policy exercise, and the tribunal looks mainly for a clear breach of the published guidelines, not hardship.

Some central organisations also reorganised their offices and cadres along the new state line after 2014, and a few seniority lists were redrawn as a result. If your seniority or posting changed because of a reorganisation order, the point to examine is whether the order followed the published options and guidelines. Our guide on cadre allocation disputes looks at the arguments that have some chance.

Filing an OA at the Hyderabad Bench, step by step

The sequence below is for a typical case from a district far from Hyderabad. Each step can be done with very little travel.

1. Put the final order and the dates on one page

   Write down the date the order was passed, the date it reached you, and the date of any appeal or representation you sent. From these, work out if you are still within the one-year period or already need condonation. If a representation has been pending more than six months, the clock under Section 21 is already running.

2. Send a proper representation if you have not

   Address the letter to the officer who actually has power to grant what you want, route it through your controlling officer, and say exactly what you are asking for, such as re-fixation from a stated date. Keep the dak diary number or the speed post receipt. Our page on using departmental remedies first explains when you can skip this step.

3. Gather papers and get Telugu documents translated

   Proceedings at the tribunal are in English. Any order, notice or certificate in Telugu needs a typed English translation, signed by the translator or certified by the advocate. Do this early; missing translations are one of the commonest reasons the registry returns a file.

4. Prepare and sign the OA

   The application contains the facts, the grounds, the relief, the interim relief if needed, and a verification. Every document relied on is annexed and page-numbered. Our page on drafting an Original Application walks through each part.

5. File physically or online

   Hand the paper book in at the registry counter in Hyderabad or upload it on the CAT e-filing portal. Rule 7 fixes the fee at Rs 50, a token amount; the registry will tell you the present figure and the accepted mode of payment. Name the Union of India through the Secretary of your ministry as the first respondent, followed by the officers whose orders you challenge, and serve copies on them.

6. Attend admission and follow up on notices

   On the first date the members look at the OA and either dismiss it in limine or send notice to the department, sometimes with a protective order. The department's counter follows, then your rejoinder, and then the long wait for a final hearing date. Andhra clients should ask for listing before the Vijayawada circuit bench at this stage.

Advocate B.K. Singh's habit with outstation clients is to ask for the full service book and the complete chain of letters before a single page of the OA is written. Most surprises at the reply stage come from a letter the client forgot about.

Hyderabad Bench timeline and outgoings, stage by stage

Which High Court hears the writ: Telangana or Andhra Pradesh

The 1997 Constitution Bench ruling in L. Chandra Kumar sends any challenge to a tribunal order to a two-judge bench of the High Court in whose territory the tribunal bench sits. Since the Hyderabad Bench sits in Hyderabad, the obvious court is the one in the same city, today called the Telangana High Court. Writs by and against Telangana employees go there without any argument.

Cases from Andhra Pradesh are less tidy. Since the Andhra Pradesh High Court started functioning at Amaravati on 1 January 2019, it has heard writs against Hyderabad Bench orders where the employee and the cause of action are in Andhra Pradesh. In June 2025, for example, a Division Bench at Amaravati set aside a Hyderabad Bench order on a medical claim of a retired employee from the Vijayawada area. At the same time, the Supreme Court has referred the broader question of which High Court can examine a CAT order to a larger bench (Union of India v. Sanjiv Chaturvedi, March 2023), and that may change the picture.

In practice, we check two things before filing: where the Vijayawada or Hyderabad order was passed, and where the employee's office and residence are. If both point to Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati is usually available; if there is any doubt, Hyderabad is the safer choice. Read our page on writs against a tribunal order for the grounds a High Court will actually look at.

Your Hyderabad Bench file: what to put in it

Mistakes we often see in cases from these two states

• Writing letter after letter. Sending the same grievance again in March, then in August, does not restart the one-year count. S.S. Rathore (1989) settled that, and the bench throws out late cases on it every month.
• Filing the OA without the translation. A Telugu show cause notice annexed without English text is enough for the registry to return the papers, and some weeks are lost.
• Choosing the wrong forum for a PSU job. An ECIL fitter or BHEL engineer who goes to CAT will be sent away for want of jurisdiction, and the months spent there cannot always be won back.
• Ignoring the circuit list. Andhra clients sometimes miss a hearing because they assumed it would be at Hyderabad, when it was listed at Vijayawada, or the other way round.
• Overlooking Section 19(4). Once the OA is admitted, your pending departmental appeal on the same grievance abates. Decide whether you want the appeal decided first.

Interim relief, transfers between the two states and urgent hearings

Moves between offices in the two states, say from Secunderabad to Guntakal, account for many urgent filings. Being shifted is part of a government job, and inconvenience alone will not persuade the bench. It looks for a breach of the transfer policy, a mala fide motive, or a specific protection, such as the spouse posting guidelines or a child's board examination year. For the tests applied, see our page on interim stay orders at CAT.

If a relieving order has already been served, move the same week. Once you have joined at the new station, the bench is far less willing to undo the transfer by interim order. Section 24 also requires notice to the department before most interim orders, so an application filed on the last day often achieves nothing.

Recovery from salary or pension is the other common reason to seek urgent relief. If the department has started deducting an alleged overpayment from a Group C employee or a pensioner, the Rafiq Masih principles may help, and asking for a stay of recovery is usually reasonable.

Differences for Group A officers, Group C staff, retirees and candidates

Group A officers at this bench are frequently scientists, IRS officers or All India Services officers. Their disputes turn on promotion boards, APAR grading and allocation, and they usually need to see DPC minutes or assessment board records. Asking the bench to call for those records is common, and a reasoned request in the OA works better than a general one.

Group C railway and postal staff tend to come with discipline cases, recovery orders and MACP disputes. Here the inquiry file and the pay fixation sheets carry the case. Gramin Dak Sevaks are governed by a separate set of conduct and engagement rules, and a GDS put off duty in a village branch office in Nalgonda can wait a year or more for any decision at all.

Retirees mostly bring pension fixation, notional increment for 30 June retirements, gratuity delays and post-retirement recovery. Candidates bring cases about certificates, medical fitness and cut-off marks. Candidates should file fast, since a recruitment that has been completed and joined is hard to reopen.

Hearings by video and dealing with the bench from outside Hyderabad

The Hyderabad Bench, like other benches, allows hearings by video in suitable matters. A pensioner in Srikakulam does not need to attend in person; the advocate appears, and the client only needs to be reachable on the hearing day for instructions. Our guide on joining a virtual hearing covers the practical side.

Counsel's personal attendance still makes a difference at admission and final hearing, when the bench may ask questions about the record. Advocate B.K. Singh usually works with associate counsel at Hyderabad for appearances, while the file, drafting and strategy are handled together with our Delhi team. You can brief us by phone or video from anywhere in the two states.

When it may be better not to file

Not every grievance should become an OA. If the department has already agreed in writing to correct a pay fixation and only needs time, a reminder through proper channel may be faster than a case. If the claim is about a transfer you have already joined, or a promotion that went to a better graded colleague under rules that were followed, the chances are slim.

Advocate B.K. Singh often tells clients from these states that a weak case filed in haste can do more harm than no case, because the tribunal's findings may be quoted against them in the next dispute. A frank reading of the papers before filing is worth the time.

What to do this week

Note on paper when the order came into your hands and the date twelve months later. For a representation still lying unanswered, the relevant date is six months after you sent it. Collect the papers listed above, get Telugu documents translated, and scan everything into one folder in date order.

Where a deduction, a reversion or a relieving order is days away, talk to a lawyer about a stay before the department writes back. For the general picture of how CAT cases run, our page on the central administrative tribunal lawyer work we do is a good starting point.

To have your papers read or to hear about new rulings that affect Hyderabad Bench cases, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.