New Delhi: A group of paramilitary officers have approached the Supreme Court challenging certain sections of the newly-enacted CAPFs (General Administration) Act claiming this law will continue to restrict their career progression, official sources said on Saturday. The matter has been listed by the apex court for hearing in the first week of August, according to court documents.
Officers and their legal representatives told PTI that a batch of writ petitions have been filed by about 3,000 cadre officials drawn from the five Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB. They said the petitions have been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution that allows citizens to approach the Supreme Court to enforce their Fundamental Rights.
Petitioners said they were “forced” to move the apex court as they feel justice was not served to them by the new Act and the directives of the Supreme Court’s May, 2025 verdict were not implemented. We feel that the latest Act will not resolve the huge stagnation and career progression of CAPF cadre officers, they said.
The petitioners include gallantry medal winners and a few women officers. The officers have sought declaration of the sections 3 and 4 of the CAPF (General Administration) Act, 2026 as “ultra vires” the Constitution and that the Union government should be directed to give “full effect” to the May, 2025 judgement of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, on May 23 last year, said that the deputation of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers up to the rank of Inspector General (IG) in the CAPFs should be “progressively reduced” over a period of two years in order to give more opportunities to cadre officers whose delayed promotions can “adversely” impact the morale of these forces.
The top court had also rejected a review petition filed by the Centre against this order. The Union government then brought in the CAPFs (General Administration) Bill in the Parliament which was notified as an Act in April. Section 3 of the said Act speaks about the regulation of recruitment and conditions of services in the CAPFs while Section 4 deals with central government’s power to amend schedules.
These officers are also understood to have sought that the posts in the Additional Director General (ADG) rank in the CAPFs be made available to the cadre officers of the respective forces, on the basis of prescribed eligibility, instead of filing them only through deputation from the IPS.
The government had said the Act seeks to create a unified legal framework governing the service conditions of personnel across the CAPFs, replacing the current patchwork of separate service rule regimes for cadre officers and those coming on deputation from the IPS.
As per the new Act, 50 per cent posts in the IG level, 67 per cent in the ADG rank and 100 per cent posts in the Special DG and Director General (DG) rank are reserved for the IPS officers.
The issue concerns the career progression of about 13,000 CAPF cadre officers whose first promotion is delayed by as many as 15-16 years in the worst cases compared to the four promotions an IPS officer earns during the same time period.
Retired IPS officers have stated in newspaper editorials that being an all-India service, their deputation to the CAPFs was “vital” and “essential” for smooth coordination with state police forces.
These CAPFs function under the Union home ministry and are deployed for various law-and-order duties, internal security tasks like border guarding, countering terrorism and insurgency and conducting elections.
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.