CAPF Act upturns SC ruling before deployment in West Bengal |
The Union government has once again gone against the ruling of the Supreme Court to ram through Parliament the CAPF Act 2026. The Act was notified on 9 April, observed as Shaurya Diwas by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) in the memory of personnel who lost their lives in the 1965 conflict with Pakistan.
The Supreme Court had directed a gradual reduction of IPS officers on deputation to CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces). The ruling came after 14 years of litigation, during which the government’s arguments failed to move either the high court or the Supreme Court. The new Act upturns the apex court’s ruling and ensures permanence to the deputation of IPS officers at higher supervisory levels in the CAPFs.
The CAPFs include the Assam Rifles, Border Security Force (BSF), National Security Guard (NSG), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), CRPF, CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
An order (monograph) by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1984 accorded officers of CAPF the status of “Organised Group ‘A’ Service (OGAS)” along with 57 other Central government services. Under OGAS, all posts from entry level to Joint secretary (IG in case of CAPF) were to be filled by promotion.
Over the years, however, virtually permanent reservation of posts for IPS officers at various levels deprived the cadre officers of their right and opportunity to be considered for leadership posts. This led to acute stagnation, with the result that an officer joining as assistant commandant would get his first promotion to the next higher rank after 15 years of service in CRPF, almost 14 years in the case of BSF.
In 2009, the government sought to address such stagnation and decided to grant ‘Non-Functional Financial Upgradation’ (NFFU) to the personnel of several OGAS services, but not to the CAPFs. Faced with the double jeopardy of stagnation and financial loss, CAPF officers approached courts after government declined to grant them........