The Supreme Court seeks an explanation from the government regarding the representation of IPS in the CAPF

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) sought an explanation from Union Home Minister Govind Mohan on the implementation of its May 2025 judgment, which directed the Center to gradually reduce the number of deputations of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to senior posts in the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

While hearing the contempt petition filed by former CAPF officers, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan verbally observed that there is a “strong lobby” and the cadre officers of CAPF are being “completely suppressed”.

“Do you think there are no competent officers in CAPF to hold responsible positions? This is completely wrong. There are officers who have served over 25 years in the service, defending the borders, also fighting for us, making the ultimate sacrifice. There is a strong lobby… the cadre officers are completely suppressed,” he said.

On May 2025, a bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice Bhuyan ruled that the deputation posts of IPS officers in the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) or up to the rank of Inspector General in the CAPF should be “gradually reduced over a period of time, say within an outer limit of two years”. Justice Oka has since retired.

The court also ruled that Group A officers of the CAPF are “organized services” for “all purposes” and asked for a time-bound revision of the cadre and service rules in six months. The Organized Group A Service (OGAS) is a structured cadre-based Group A civil service with defined hierarchy, promotion paths and cadre control, as opposed to isolated or general civil posts.

In an affidavit, Mr. Mohan informed the Supreme Court that after the 2025 court verdict, 46 IPS officers were deployed in the CAPF up to the SAG level.

In an affidavit, the Union Home Ministry said it has taken a number of steps to implement the Supreme Court’s directions, including initiating a cadre review in all CAPFs, examining the issue of IPS deputation and making statutory changes. The ministry noted that after its request for review was rejected on 28 October 2025, all CAPFs were directed to submit detailed proposals for cadre review, which have since been reviewed by the ministry and forwarded to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) with the approval of the Home Secretary.

The affidavit was filed in pursuance of an order dated July 28 by a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S Chandurkar, which directed the secretaries of the ministry and the DoPT to record steps taken to implement the May 2025 judgment.

According to the affidavit, after the verdict, the Border Security Force (BSF) received the highest number of IPS officers on deputation with 13 personnel, followed by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with 11, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with nine, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) with seven and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) with six.

The DoPT told the court that proposals for cadre review for CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB were sent by the ministry between July 27 and August 3, 2026. The proposals were considered in accordance with the government’s cadre review guidelines and forwarded to the Department of Expenditure (DoE) along with the DoPT’s comments and recommendations, which will be received by the DoPT after August 17. a cadre review committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary, whose recommendations will then be considered for approval by the relevant authority.

The next meeting date is September 22.

To circumvent the 2025 judgment, the government passed the CAPFs (General Administration) Act, 2026, which was gazetted on April 9. However, five court cases challenging the legislation have since been filed and are scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court on November 18.

The law, approved by Parliament on April 2, states that in all CAPFs, 50% of the total posts in the rank of Inspector General, at least 67% of posts in the rank of Additional Director General and all posts in the rank of Special Director General and Director General will be filled by deputed IPS officers. Until now, such accounting was done by executive orders. The 50% cap on DIG posts to be filled by Group A CAPF officers has also been lifted, paving the way for a higher percentage of IPS deputations.

Published – 02 Sep 2026 23:05 IST