Court removes Telangana RTO rule’s 2021 detour

The Telangana High Court has quashed two parts of a 2021 rule change that restricted district transport-office Administrative Officers seeking appointment by transfer as Regional Transport Officers. The court said the technical degree requirement and altered vacancy cycle introduced through G.O.Ms.No.7 were illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory as applied to that category.

A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin held that the State had the power to prescribe qualifications, but that power was not a licence to add a qualification without a rational link to the post. The court noted that technical work was performed with assistance from Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspectors and Motor Vehicle Inspectors, while an RTO held a supervisory and administrative position.

The order directs that the affected vacancies be handled under the pre-amended 1994 rules. It does not order automatic appointment of every Administrative Officer. The Transport Department’s post-judgment implementation position has not been publicly established; the rule may have been written in 2021, but the court has now removed its more convenient parts.