Thiruvananthapuram: MR Ajith Kumar has been appointed as the Managing Director of Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco).

The current MD, IG Harshita Attaluri, has been posted as Traffic IG. The move comes after the Central Administrative Tribunal recently ruled that only IAS officers can be appointed to cadre posts.

Following the order, Ajith Kumar, who had been serving as Excise Commissioner and Chairman of Bevco, was removed from the post of Excise Commissioner.

Subsequently, he has now been appointed as the CMD of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation.

Earlier this month, the Administrative Tribunal held that posts of Excise Commissioner, KILA Director and Director General of IMG in Kerala are IAS cadre posts and cannot be filled by non-IAS officers.

The tribunal's Ernakulam bench of judicial member Justice Sunil Thomas and administrative member V Rama Mathew said that cadre posts can only be filled up and held by IAS officers, and if any of them are held by non-IAS or retired IAS officers, "they shall stand removed forthwith and posts shall remain vacant".

The tribunal further ruled that all appointments, transfers and postings of IAS officers in Kerala, whether on completion of tenure or not, shall be done in consultation with the Civil Services Board (CSB) and in accordance with the procedure contemplated under the relevant provisions of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 2014 and the Schedule thereunder.

It directed that the posts notified as cadre posts by the Union government shall be filled only by IAS officers.

"It is declared that the posts of Excise Commissioner, Director Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) and Director General, Institute of Management in Government (IMG) are IAS," the CAT bench said.

It further said that "if any of the said posts is held by non-IAS officers or retired IAS officers, they shall stand removed forthwith and posts shall remain vacant".