High Court sends Telangana’s RTO rule back to 1994
The Telangana High Court has quashed the engineering qualification and altered vacancy cycle for a specific RTO promotion route, directing the department to use the pre-2021 rules.
The High Court directed the department to apply the pre-amended rules for the specified RTO promotion route.
The Telangana High Court has quashed the engineering qualification imposed on district-office Administrative Officers seeking appointment by transfer as Regional Transport Officers, along with the altered vacancy cycle introduced in 2021.
In its September 1, 2026 judgment in two writ petitions, the division bench said RTO work is mainly supervisory, regulatory and administrative. Technical inspection and roadworthiness functions, it noted, are substantially handled by Assistant Motor Vehicle Inspectors and Motor Vehicle Inspectors, who already have technical qualifications. The court found no sufficient rational connection between an engineering degree and this promotion route, calling the provisions arbitrary and discriminatory.
The court has directed the department to consider eligible Administrative Officers under the pre-amended rules in G.O.Ms.No.180 of 1994. Existing appointments made under G.O.Ms.No.7 cannot be disturbed solely because of this judgment without notice and a lawful order. The ruling does not remove every technical qualification for every route to an RTO post. The department has not publicly confirmed how many vacancies or appointments are affected, or whether it will appeal. The 2021 shortcut has been sent back to the rulebook it replaced.