Despite the Supreme Court’s directions to ‘progressively reduce’ deputation of IPS officers to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the Union Cabinet approved the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Bill draft on Tuesday. This Bill is aimed at retaining the provision for deputation of IPS officers at the level of Inspector General (IG) and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the CAPFs. It is likely to be tabled in the Parliament soon.
The Supreme Court had last year confirmed ‘organised services’ (OGAS) status for group A CAPF officers for all purposes and directed the central government to progressively reduce deputation posts of IPS officers in the senior administrative grade (SAG) up to the rank of IG in CAPFs. As per the current recruitment rules for CAPFs, 20% of the posts at the DIG level and 50% at the IG level are deputation posts for IPS officers.
By asking the Centre to gradually reduce the number of deputation posts in the CAPFs for the IPS officers, the apex court ruling was seen as a career booster for around 13,000 CAPF cadre officers, who often complained of discrimination on account of IPS officers grabbing the plum DIG and IG level posts.
The Centre had tried its best to retain this provision by filing a review petition earlier against the SC verdict, though it was dismissed by the court in Oct 2025.
After seeing the govt not implementing the SC ruling, a number of contempt petitions were filed in the court, which are in the process of being heard.
Interestingly, the Centre had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking a further time period of one year for completion of a comprehensive review for existing Group A cadres by the CAPFs and submission of cadre review proposals to govt for action in compliance with SC directions. It told the top court that the cadre review exercise is a long-drawn process and is already underway.
Not only this, but the govt went on to say it is actively examining the matter and considering statutory and regulatory intervention wherever necessary, despite the fact that contempt petitions are pending before the SC. The Centre submitted in its affidavit that the matter involves policy, financial, and structural implications having long-term administrative consequences, and therefore requires careful and due consideration at each stage.
The CAPF officers feel that this Amendment Bill virtually seeks to override these problems by adding the provision for deputation of IPS officers in senior CAPF posts in the Act itself.
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