Nearly five months after the Parliament passed the legislation, the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Act, 2026, is now in force. The Union Home Ministry has notified its coming into force from October 8, 2026.
The new law formalises the deputation of IPS officers to senior positions in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), even as its constitutional validity is under challenge in the Supreme Court.
Serving CAPF officers have challenged its validity in the top court, as the cadre dispute affects around 13,000 CAPF officers.
The Home Ministry’s notification assumes significance as the new law has emerged as a key issue in separate contempt proceedings concerning the implementation of the Supreme Court’s May 23, 2025, judgment, which directed the Centre to progressively reduce the deputation of IPS officers in the CAPFs over the period of two years.
The contempt proceedings began after several petitions were filed alleging that the Union Govt has not fully implemented the May 2025 judgment.
Further, the petitioners told the top court that the new Act did not cover several directions of the 2025 judgment and, therefore, there was no reason to defer the contempt proceedings until November 18, which had earlier been fixed as the returnable date in the writ petitions challenging the legislation.
Following it, a bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan on September 30 decided to hear the contempt petitions along with three writ petitions challenging the validity of the CAPF Act on October 15.
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