The Supreme Court has agreed to decide a complicated but crucial legal issue: whether the Enforcement Directorate (ED) can be allowed to file a writ petition before High Courts based on its claim of being a “juristic person” under Article 226 of the Constitution.
A juristic person is a non-human legal entity, like a corporation, government body, or even a deity, that the law recognizes as having rights and duties similar to a human being. A juristic person can sue or be sued.
Thus, at the heart of the matter lies a seemingly technical but deeply consequential issue: whether the ED possesses an independent legal existence that allows it to invoke writ jurisdiction of High Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution.
This complex matter came up for hearing before the apex court on Tuesday. It all started with the Kerala High Court’s order, passed last year, upholding the ED’s right to file writ petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution. Article 226 refers to the power of High Courts to issue certain writs.
The Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments challenged the Kerala High Court order in the apex court.
A bench of Justices, Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma, agreed to take up the matter and issued notice to the agency on appeals filed by the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments.
The Kerala High Court had, in its order on September 26 last year, upheld a single judge order staying the judicial inquiry into the ED probe of the 2020 gold smuggling case.
The case originated from a May 7, 2021, Kerala govt’s notification ordering a judicial inquiry against ED officials accused of coercing the accused to implicate political leaders, including the CM, in the gold smuggling case.
An inquiry commission had been formed under former HC judge Justice V K Mohanan to examine evidence, including an audio clip attributed to accused Swapna Suresh and a letter by accused Sandeep Nair, both alleging coercion by ED officers.
ED deputy director moved the HC, questioning the state govt’s authority to order an inquiry against a central investigating agency.
The single bench held that the ED had locus standi (the right to approach the court) and granted an interim stay on the govt’s notification on August 11, 2021.
It prompted the state government to file an appeal against the single bench’s stay order in the High Court, which was dismissed.
The High Court ruled that the appeal lacked merit, and the single bench had committed no error in entertaining the ED’s petition and staying the inquiry. It led to the present legal controversy revolving round the ED’s claim to file a writ petition by virtue of being a juristic person.
Because the fundamental question is whether the ED, which functions as an arm of the Ministry of Revenue under the Finance Ministry, should be treated as an independent legal personality.
This is for the Supreme Court to decide. But, whatever the apex court’s verdict in this crucial case, the outcome is going to have far-reaching implications for the functioning of the investigative agencies and the rights of individuals facing investigations.
Days after a 27-year-old software engineer died after his car fell into a water-filled pit at a construction site in Noida’s Sector 150, the Uttar Pradesh government has initiated administrative and investigative action to fix accountability of unfortunate incident. The Noida Authority’s Chief Executive Officer, M Lokesh (IAS:2005:UP), has been removed from his post and placed on a waiting list, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the incident.
A three-member SIT has been constituted to examine the circumstances leading to the fatal accident. The team will be headed by the Additional Director General (ADG), Meerut Zone, with the Meerut Divisional Commissioner and the Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) as members. The SIT has been directed to submit its report to the Chief Minister within five days.
The accident took place late Friday night when Yuvraj Mehta, a Noida-based software engineer employed with a private firm in Gurugram, was returning home amid dense fog. Police said his car veered off the road and plunged into a waterlogged pit after breaking through a damaged boundary wall at an under-construction site around 12.30 am.
Preliminary accounts indicate that after the car fell into the pit, Mehta managed to climb onto the roof of the partially submerged vehicle and repeatedly shouted for help. His family has alleged that he remained trapped in the water for nearly two hours. During this period, they claim, there was no timely rescue response and trained divers were not deployed at the site. In a complaint filed with the police, Yuvraj’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta, alleged gross administrative negligence.
In his police complaint, Yuvraj’s father, Raj Kumar Mehta, pointed to a combination of factors that, he said, led to the accident — thick fog, a broken boundary wall and the absence of basic safety arrangements at the construction site. He maintained that his son could have been saved if help had reached the spot in time.
Speaking later, Mehta said people in the area had heard his son shouting for help after the car fell into the pit, but no organised rescue followed. “He was alive for a long time. People were there, but there was no system, no divers, nothing. The officials who came did not know what to do,” he said, alleging serious lapses on the part of the authorities.
A local resident who entered the drain around 1.45 am in an attempt to locate the victim also questioned the response, saying there was confusion at the site and no clear coordination among agencies.
The post-mortem report stated that Yuvraj Mehta died due to drowning. The death has sparked anger among residents and brought renewed focus on safety lapses at construction sites in Noida. Officials in the Uttar Pradesh Home Department said further action would be decided after the Special Investigation Team submits its report.
A 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Sameer Wankhede, finally got a major relief from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Monday, which set aside the disciplinary charge framed by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) against him. The CAT slammed the board for acting with malice and vendetta against Wankhede and restrained it from proceeding further on the basis of the charge memorandum
A Bench of Justice, Ranjit More and Rajinder Kashyap, took a strong exception to authorities for acting with malice and bias against Wankhede. The tribunal observed that the motive behind issuing the charge sheet was driven by the biased considerations, and the inquiry would be a mere farcical show. The tribunal made a damning indictment, saying it had to interfere to avoid further harassment and humiliation of the officer.
The CAT went on to charge the CBIC with trying to stall the promotion of Wankhede.
The tribunal further said that it was inclined to impose costs on CBIC but was refraining from doing so with the hope that the CBIC would mend its ways.
Wankhede served as Mumbai Zonal Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau between 2020 and January 2022, during which the NCB registered the Cordelia Cruise drug case involving Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan.
Later, allegations were leveled regarding the procedural lapses in the investigation, following which a Special Enquiry Team (SET) had been constituted by the NCB. The SET submitted its report in June 2022.
Wankhede then challenged the SET report before CAT, contending that the officer heading the inquiry had himself supervised the investigation in the Cordelia cruise case.
The CAT in August 2023 accepted this contention, saying that the SET report was only a preliminary enquiry. The CAT’s position was upheld by the Delhi High Court, which clarified that the findings of a preliminary enquiry cannot be used to indict an employee in disciplinary proceedings.
Meanwhile, in May 2023, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered an FIR against Wankhede. The FIR was based on the same material that formed part of the SET report. Wankhede then approached the Bombay High Court. The High Court granted him interim protection from coercive action.
But despite these judicial directions, CBIC issued a charge memorandum on August 18, 2025, alleging that Wankhede, after being transferred out of NCB, sought confidential information from NCB’s legal advisor and attempted to influence the course of the investigation.
Wankhede then challenged the CBIC’s charge before the CAT, in which this CAT’s judgment came on Monday.
After the Haryana government’s refusal to grant prosecution sanction, a Panchkula court finally discharged senior IAS officer Vijay Dahiya (IAS:2001:HY) in a corruption case. The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) informed the court that agencies tried to secure the required sanction from the competent authority multiple times to prosecute Dahiya after completing the investigation, but the Chief Secretary’s office declined to grant sanction through a letter on January 9, 2026.
The ACB submitted that in the absence of a sanction, the agency was not inclined to file a chargesheet against Dahiya. It paved the way for Dahiya being discharged by the court.
The state government had earlier objected to the ACB not obtaining prior approval of the government under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act before registering the FIR against Dahiya.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Bikramjit Aroura observed that in the absence of a valid prosecution sanction, the court was legally barred from proceeding further against Dahiya.
The court had clarified, in its order on January 17, that the discharge of accused Vijay Dahiya was solely because of the refusal of prosecution sanction against him and that it should not prevent the prosecution from proceeding in the event of a valid sanction being granted in the future, if so permissible.
Dahiya is currently posted as Principal Secretary, looking after three departments—Printing and Stationery, Animal Husbandry, and Sports.
Dahiya had been arrested by the ACB on October 10, 2023, in connection with a corruption case and put behind bars for 49 days before being granted bail on November 28, 2023.
The controversy started on April 20, 2023, when the ACB filed an FIR naming three persons—Dahiya, who was serving as administrative secretary of the Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Department, along with Deepak Sharma, the Chief Skills Officer (a contractual appointee) in the Haryana Skill Development Mission, and a private individual, Poonam Chopra.
According to ACB officials, the agency completed its investigation and sought sanction to prosecute Dahiya in July 2024, followed by two reminders in January and August 2025, but it was declined by the state govt on the grounds that the investigation failed to establish any exchange of graft money between the IAS officer and the other accused as well as the complainant, Rinku Manchanda.
One Rinku Manchanda, a resident of Fatehabad who ran an educational institution, Gramin Shiksha, under the Haryana Skill Development Mission, had alleged that the skill development department owed about ₹50 lakh to him, but when he asked for the clearance of the dues, he was allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹5 lakh for processing the payment by Deepak Sharma, then posted as the chief skills officer.
According to the FIR, Dahiya, who was serving as the administrative secretary of the department, is said to have facilitated early clearance of the bills in lieu of ₹5 lakh as illegal gratification for clearing the bills.
The complainant agreed to the demand and allegedly paid ₹2 lakh to Dahiya’s acquaintance, one Poonam Chopra, as part payment. He demanded the rest of the graft money on April 20, 2023. The ACB then laid a trap and arrested her, leading to the exposé of the controversy.
The Central government has approved the appointment of Ravi Shankar Chhabi (IPS:2007:UP) as Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on central deputation. He is currently serving in Uttar Pradesh as DIG, Public Grievances, DGP Headquarters, Lucknow.
According to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday (January 19, 2026), the competent authority has cleared his appointment against an existing vacancy in the CRPF, in accordance with the usual terms and conditions governing central deputation.
Following the approval, the Uttar Pradesh government has been requested to relieve Chhabi immediately to enable him to assume charge of his new assignment at the Centre.
The Central government has approved the promotion of Sreejith T (IPS:2012:AM), who is currently serving as Superintendent of Police (SP) in the National Investigation Agency (NIA), to the rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG).
According to an office memorandum issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 16, 2026, the competent authority has approved his appointment as DIG (Level-13A in the pay matrix) in the NIA by temporarily upgrading one post of SP to DIG as a measure personal to the officer.
The promotion will take effect from the date Sreejith T assumes charge of the DIG post and will remain valid until the completion of his remaining tenure, that is up to September 1, 2026, or until a clear vacancy arises in the DIG rank in the NIA, whichever is earlier.
The Central government has approved the promotion of four IPS officers of the 2012 batch, currently serving as Assistant Directors at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), Hyderabad, to the rank of Deputy Director.
According to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the competent authority has approved the appointment of the officers as Deputy Directors (Level-13A) in SVPNPA by temporarily upgrading the posts of Assistant Director (Level-13) held by them.
The officers promoted include Rohini Priyadarshini P (IPS:2012:TG), Radhika G (IPS:2012:KN), Ajit Pratap Singh (IPS:2012:TR), and Kalmeshwar Shingenavar (IPS:2012:TG).
The upgraded appointments will take effect from the respective dates of assumption of charge and will remain valid till the completion of their deputation tenure or until a clear vacancy of Deputy Director arises in SVPNPA, whichever is earlier.
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has recommended Rajesh Kumar Chandel for appointment as Director (Projects) of SJVN Limited. The recommendation was made after interviews conducted by the PESB on January 19, 2026.
Rajesh Kumar Chandel is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SJVN Limited. His name will now be forwarded to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for final approval, subject to vigilance clearance and completion of other procedural requirements.
A total of 12 candidates were interviewed by the PESB for the post. The candidates included:
The Bihar government has issued a fresh list of district in-charge officers, assigning senior IAS officers to oversee administrative functioning across the state with the objective of improving governance and service delivery. As per the notification, the district in-charge officers will be responsible for ensuring better coordination among departments, monitoring the implementation of development schemes, maintaining law and order, and addressing issues related to public interest in their respective districts.
Among the key postings, senior IAS officer C K Anil has been designated as district in-charge of Gaya, while Arvind Kumar Chaudhary has been assigned Bhojpur. B Rajender has been given responsibility of Patna, and N Vijayalakshmi has been made in-charge of Samastipur.
Other officers appointed as district in-charge include K Senthil Kumar for Nawada, H R Srinivas for West Champaran, Santosh Kumar Mal for Purnea, and Pankaj Kumar for Rohtas.
The list further includes Narmadeshwar Lal for Saharsa, Vinay Kumar for Muzaffarpur, Mayank Varwade for Buxar, and Pratima Satish Kumar Verma for Saran.
Additional assignments have been made with Pankaj Pal posted as in-charge of Begusarai, Vandana Preyashi for Vaishali, Lokesh Kumar Singh for Madhubani, and Abhay Kumar Singh for East Champaran.
According to the notification, Ajay Yadav has been assigned Katihar, Divesh Sehra for Kishanganj, Sandeep R Pudkalkatti for Banka, and Dharmendra Singh for Madhepura.
Further postings include Gopal Meena for Gopalganj, Manoj Kumar for Aurangabad, Deepak Anand for Bhagalpur, and Sanjay Kumar Singh for Darbhanga.
Similar arrangements have also been made for the remaining districts, with Dinesh Kumar assigned to Jamui, Mohammad Sohail to Sheohar, Dr Ashima Jain to Supaul, B Karthikeya Dhanji to Kaimur, Pranab Kumar to Khagaria, Manoj Kumar Singh to Siwan, Seema Tripathi to Sitamarhi, Rajiv Roshan to Sheikhpura, Dr Kaushal Kishore to Arwal, Kanwal Tanuj to Lakhisarai, and Rachna Patel to Jehanabad.
The Madhya Pradesh government on Sunday (January 18, 2026) carried out a major bureaucratic reshuffle, transferring as many as 26 IAS officers across the state. Nearly a fortnight after being removed as Indore Municipal Commissioner following deaths linked to water contamination, IAS officer Dilip Kumar Yadav has been appointed Managing Director of the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation.
The names of the officers and their postings are as follows;
1. Sheo Shekhar Shukla (IAS:1994:MP), Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Culture & Tourism Department and Commissioner-cum-Director, Swaraj Institute and Ex-Officio Secretary, Bharat Bhawan and OSD-cum-Commissioner, Tourism and MD, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Board and Religious Trust and Endowment with additional charge of Home Department, has been transferred and posted as ACS, Home with additional charge of ACS, Culture & Tourism Department and Commissioner-cum-Director, Swaraj Institute and Ex-Officio Secretary, Bharat Bhawan and ACS, Religious Trust and Endowment Department.
2. Umakant Umrao (IAS:1996:MP), Principal Secretary, Mineral Resource Department and Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has been transferred and posted as Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
3. Shobhit Jain (IAS:2000:MP), Member Secretary, MP State Food Commission, Bhopal, with additional charge of Registrar, MP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Principal Secretary, Ayush Department.
4. John Kingsley AR (IAS:2004:MP), Secretary, Narmada Valley Development Department and Director (Rehabilitation), Narmada Valley Development Authority, Bhopal with additional charge of Water Resources Department, has been transferred and posted as Secretary, Horticulture & Food Processing Department with additional charge of Secretary, Narmada Valley Development Authority; Director (Rehabilitation), Narmada Valley Development Authority, Bhopal and Secretary, Water Resource Department.
5. Sriman Shukla (IAS:2007:MP), Commissioner, Tribal Development, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Secretary, Planning, Economics and Statistics Department with additional charge of Member Secretary, MP State Food Commission and Registrar, MP State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bhopal.
6. Swatantra Kumar Singh (IAS:2007:MP), Secretary, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Secretary, Fishermen Welfare and Fisheries Development Department.
7. Vishesh Gadhpale (IAS:2008:MP), Secretary, Energy Department with additional charge of MD, MP Power Management Company Limited, Jabalpur, has been transferred and posted as MD, MP Power Management Company Limited, Jabalpur with additional charge of Secretary, Energy Department and MD, MP East Region Electricity Distribution Company Limited, Jabalpur.
8. Alok Kumar Singh (IAS:2008:MP), Managing Director, MP State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd with additional charge of Secretary, Chief Minister has been transferred and posted as Secretary, Chief Minister with additional charge of Mineral Resources.
9. Dhanraju S (IAS:2009:MP), Commissioner, Commercial Tax, Indore with additional charge of Commercial Tax Department, has been transferred and posted as Health Services, Bhopal.
10. Anay Dwivedi (IAS:2010:MP), MD, MP East Region Electricity Distribution Company Limited, Jabalpur, has been transferred and posted as Commercial Tax, Indore.
11. Tarun Rathi (IAS:2010:MP), Commissioner, Health Services, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Tribal Development, Bhopal.
12. Anurag Chaudhary (IAS:2010:MP), Additional Secretary, Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, has been transferred and posted as MD, MP Fisheries Federation, Bhopal, with additional charge Additional Secretary, Fishermen Welfare and Fisheries Development and Additional Secretary, Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department.
13. Neha Marvya Singh (IAS:2011:MP), Director, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes, has been transferred and posted as Additional Secretary, Tribal Welfare Department.
14. Gautam Singh (IAS:2011:MP), Additional Secretary, Revenue Department, has been transferred and posted as Commissioner, MP Housing Construction & Infrastructure Development Board.
15. Virendra Kumar (IAS:2011:MP), Additional Secretary, New & Renewable Energy Department, has been transferred and posted asAdditional Commissioner (Revenue), Gwalior Division, Gwalior.
16. Nidhi Nivedita (IAS:2012:MP), MD, MP Fisheries Federation, Bhopal with Additional Secretary, Fishermen Welfare and Fisheries Development Department; Commissioner, Women & Child Development and Ex-officio Mission Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Child Health and Nutrition Mission and Ex-officio Additional Secretary, Women & Child Development and MD, Women Finance & Development Corporation, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Commissioner, Women & Child Development and Ex-officio Mission Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Child Health and Nutrition Mission and Ex-officio Additional Secretary, Women & Child Development with additional charge of MD, Women Finance & Development Corporation, Bhopal.
17. Fating Rahul Haridas (IAS:2012:MP), Commissioner, MP Housing Construction & Infrastructure Development Board, has been transferred and posted as Director, Health Services and Director, MP State AIDS Control Society, Bhopal.
18. Rajesh Kumar Ogrey (IAS:2012:MP), Secretary, MP State Information Commission, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Additional Secretary, Commercial Tax Department.
19. Rishi Garg (IAS:2013:MP), Member Secretary, State Planning Commission, Bhopal and Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis (AIGGPA), Bhopal.
20. Manisha Setia (IAS:2013:MP), Additional Project Director, National Secondary Education Mission, Bhopal, has been transferred and posted as Additional Secretary, Home Department.
21. Dilip Kumar Yadav (IAS:2014:MP), Deputy Secretary, Panchayat & Rural Development Department, has been transferred and posted as MD, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, Bhopal.
22. Budhesh Kumar Vaidya (IAS:2014:MP), Deputy Secretary, Home Department, has been transferred and posted as Secretary, Secondary Education Board with additional charge of Director, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes, Bhopal.
23. Dilip Kumar Kapse (IAS:2014:MP), Deputy Secretary, General Administration Department, has been transferred and posted as Deputy Secretary, Farmers Welfare and Agriculture Development Department.
24. Malika Nigan Nagar (IAS:2016:MP), Deputy Secretary, Public Health and Family Welfare Department, has been transferred and posted as Deputy Secretary, Revenue Department.
25. Disha Pranay Nagvanshi (IAS:2016:MP), Deputy Secretary, Tribal Welfare Department, has been transferred and posted as Additional Mission Director, National Health Mission, Bhopal.
26. Vandana Sharma (IAS:2018:MP), Deputy Secretary, Commercial Tax Department, has been transferred and posted as Secretary, MP State Information Commission.
Get Latest Updates