When CAPFs Are Declared As OGAS, All Benefits Available To OGAS Should Naturally Flow To CAPFs: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court remarked that the role of CAPFs is crucial while maintaining security at the borders of our country as well as in discharging internal security duties.
Justice Abhay S. Oka, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court observed that when CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) have been declared as OGAS (Organized Group-A Service), all benefits available to OGAS should naturally flow to the CAPFs.
The Court observed thus in a batch of Civil Appeals filed against the common Judgment of the Delhi High Court in Writ Petitions preferred by personnel belonging to different services viz. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), collectively known as CAPFs.
The two-Judge Bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan held, “Now that the Central Government has accepted that CAPFs are included in OGAS, the natural consequences should follow. Eligible officers belonging to the CAPFs have already been granted NFFU following the decision of this Court in Harananda (supra). DoPT OM dated 12.07.2019 makes it abundantly clear that the CAPFs have been treated as OGAS for cadre issues and all other related matters. In other words, CAPFs are OGAS for all purposes. When CAPFs have been declared as OGAS, all benefits available to OGAS should naturally flow to the CAPFs. It cannot be that they are granted one benefit and denied the other.”
The Bench remarked that the role of CAPFs is crucial while maintaining security at the borders of our country as well as in discharging internal security duties.
Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave, Shyam Divan, S. Gurukrishna Kumar, and K. Parameshwar appeared for the Appellants while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati and Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for the Respondents.
Case Background
The Appellants i.e., CAPFs sought for the following reliefs before the High Court –
(i) for a direction to the Union of India in respect of each of the CAPFs to fill up all the additional posts created pursuant to the cadre review (CR) of the year 2016 as per the existing recruitment rules which provide for certain percentage of posts at each level up to Senior Administrative Grade being filled up by way of deputation;
(ii) for a direction to the Respondents to amend the recruitment rules of each service i.e. CAPFs by including various attributes as required by the Office Memorandum issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India (DoPT) read with the related Office Memoranda, by providing that all posts up to Senior Administrative Grade should be filled up by way of promotion only and not by way of deputation;
(iii) thereafter, to conduct cadre review of Group-A officers of each cadre by treating each service as OGAS.
In support of the prayers made, the Appellants relied upon the report of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, OM of the DoPT, and the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Union of India v. Harananda (2019) by which the decision of the High Court in G.J. Singh v. Union of India (2015) was affirmed.
Reasoning
The Supreme Court in the above context of the case, said, “… we find that in the Junior Time Scale is the post of Assistant Commandant; Deputy Commandant is in the grade of Senior Time Scale. Commandant and Senior Commandant are included in Junior Administrative Grade with Senior Commandant being granted NFSG. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) is placed in the Super Time Scale Grade, whereas Inspector General (IG) is placed in the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG). Therefore, posts upto Inspector General are at the level of SAG or below. Additional Director General (ADG) is placed in the Higher Administrative Grade (HAG). The topmost post is Director General (DG).”
The Court noted that there are various issues connected with the deployment of CAPFs, including coordinating with the State Governments and the state police force.
“Central Government in its wisdom has taken the view that presence of IPS officers in each of the CAPFs is vital to maintain the character of each of the CAPFs as a unique central armed force. This is a policy decision”, it added.
The Court elucidated that individual officers belonging to the IPS or the association of IPS officers cannot have a say as to how much the deputation quota should be and how long the deputation should continue and they are there on deputation by virtue of the policy decision of the Central Government manifest through the service rules/recruitment rules of the CAPFs.
“Having said that we cannot also be oblivious of the grievance expressed by officers of the CAPFs as highlighted supra. Their dedicated service upholding the security, integrity and sovereignty of the nation while safeguarding our borders and maintaining internal security within the country cannot be ignored or overlooked. They discharge their duties under very demanding conditions. They have a grievance that because of lateral entry into the higher grades of the respective CAPFs, they are unable to get their timely promotion”, it noted.
Furthermore, the Court said that there is a great deal of stagnation and such stagnation can adversely impact the morale of the forces, which also needs to be factored in while considering review of such policy decision.
Directions
The Court, therefore, issued the following directions –
1. Let the cadre review in all the CAPFs which was due in the year 2021 be carried out within a period of six months.
2. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India shall give effect to the DoPT OM and undertake the exercise for review of the existing service rules/recruitment rules of each of the CAPFs. While carrying out the aforesaid exercise, representative of the cadre officers of each of the CAPFs shall be given an opportunity of being heard.
3. Let the above exercise pertaining to review of existing service rules/recruitment rules of each of the CAPFs be carried out and completed within a period of six months.
4. DoPT shall take appropriate decision after receipt of action taken report(s) from the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding cadre review and review of existing service rules/recruitment rules within a period of three months from the date of receipt of such report(s).
5. Keeping in mind the twin objectives of service mobility of the cadre officers of CAPF thereby removing stagnation on the one hand and the operational/functional requirement of the forces on the other hand, the number of posts earmarked for deputation in the cadres of the 66 CAPFs up to the level of Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) should be progressively reduced over a period of time, say within an outer limit of two years.
6. This will bring in a sense of participation of the cadre officers belonging to the CAPFs in the decision-making process within the administrative framework of the CAPFs thereby removing the long-standing grievances of the cadre officers.
Accordingly, the Apex Court disposed of the Appeals and issued necessary directions.
Cause Title- Sanjay Prakash & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 779)
Appearance:
Appellants: Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave, Shyam Divan, S. Gurukrishna Kumar, K. Parameshwar, AORs Preetika Dwivedi, Vishnu Shankar Jain, P. N. Puri, Nishanth Patil, Mukesh Kumar, Advocates Abhisek Mohanty, Abhishek Puri, Surabhi Gupta, Ankur Chhibber, Sahil Grewal, Surbhi Gupta, Reeta Dewan Puri, Rishav Ambasta, MV Mukunda, Himanshu Gautam, Lokesh Sharma, Kishan Gautam, Anuradha Pandey, Chinmay K Bhatt, and Amrita Pandey.
Respondents: ASG Aishwarya Bhati, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, AORs Supriya Juneja, A.K. Sharma, Arvind Kumar Sharma, Sriram Krishna, Nitin Bhardwaj, Satyam Thareja, Advocates Aditya Singla, Asees Kaur, Kushagra Raghuvanshi, Padmesh Mishra, Shreya Jain, Abhijeet Singh, Aakanksha Kaul, Amit Sharma B, Raghvendra S Srivastava, Adit Khorana, Swati Ghildiyal, Rajat Nair, Navanjay Mahapatra, Padmesh Mishra, and Rajesh Kumar Singh.
