Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant has constituted a special bench to hear a contempt petition filed by retired officers of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), alleging that the central government has not fully implemented a May 2025 apex court’s ruling to ‘progressively reduce’ the deputation of IPS officers to senior posts in the CAPFs.
The Bench will now be presided over by Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan.
Earlier in the day, a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S. Chandurkar had asked the top court’s Registry to explain why the contempt petition in the matter was “struck off” the cause list, despite a specific judicial order.
The bench then directed that the case, along with connected matters, be listed again at 2 p.m. on September 30.
The apex court was virtually supposed to hear the case on September 22, but it could not take up the matter. It had then specifically ordered that the case be listed again on September 29 at 2 p.m. and allowed the respondents to file corrected affidavits in the meantime.
The matter had been listed as Item No. 32 in the cause list for September 29, but the case had subsequently been struck off the list.
The contempt proceedings pertain to the implementation of the Supreme Court’s May 2025 judgment. On May 23, 2025, a bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice Bhuyan had ruled that the deputation posts of IPS officers in the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) or up to the rank of Inspector General in CAPFs should be “progressively reduced over a period of two years.” Justice Oka has since retired.
The court had also sought an explanation from Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and the officer had submitted a detailed affidavit on September 23 in the court explaining the Union Govt’s position.
While hearing the contempt petition filed by retired CAPF officers on September 2, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan had orally observed that there was a “strong lobby” against them, and that the cadre officers of the CAPFs are completely stifled.
The court also ruled that Group A officers of CAPFs are “Organised Services” for “all purposes”, and asked for a time-bound review of cadre and service rules within six months. The Home Secretary had informed the Court that since May 2025, 46 IPS officers have been brought on deputation to the CAPFs up to the SAG level.
It needs to be mentioned here that the Centre, in a way to circumvent the 2025 SC judgment, enacted the CAPFs (General Administration) Act, 2026, formalising the deputation of IPS officers in the CAPFs. Following it, five writ petitions challenging the legislation have since been filed and are scheduled for hearing on November 18.
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