The Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, has directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and the State of West Bengal to complete the empanelment process for appointment of the Director General of Police (Head of Police Force), West Bengal, in a time-bound manner, holding that administrative delay cannot defeat an eligible officer’s fundamental right to be considered for appointment.
A Bench comprising Justice Ranjit More (Chairman) and Rajinder Kashyap (Member-A) was hearing an application filed by a 1990-batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre, presently serving as Principal Secretary in the Government of West Bengal. The applicant sought directions to the UPSC to send a panel of three senior-most IPS officers, including himself, for appointment to the post of DGP (HoPF) as on the vacancy date of December 27, 2023, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s judgment in Prakash Singh v. Union of India, WP No. 310/1996.
The applicant contended that he is due to superannuate on January 31, 2026, and any further delay in preparation of the panel would cause serious and irreversible prejudice to his right to be considered for the said post.
Allowing the application, the Tribunal noted that although the State of West Bengal had delayed forwarding the proposal, the same was eventually sent in July 2025, when the applicant still had more than six months of service left. It held that such a delay on the part of the State could not prejudice the applicant and rejected the contention that proceeding with empanelment would amount to contempt of the Supreme Court’s directions.
Granting interim relief, the Tribunal directed the State to resubmit the proposal by January 23, 2026, and ordered the UPSC to convene the Empanelment Committee by January 28, 2026 and forward the panel to the State by January 29, 2026. It further clarified that policy changes introduced subsequently could not be applied retrospectively to an ongoing empanelment process, emphasising that the “rules of the game” cannot be altered mid-way.
Apperanarnces
For the Applicant: Mr. Sanjoy Ghose, Sr. Adv. assisted by Mr. Nipun Arora and Mr. Rohan Mandal, Advocates.
For the Respondents: Mr. R. V. Sinha with Mr. K. K. Sharma, Mr. Aman Sharma, Mr. Suryansh Singh, Mr. A. S. Singh, Ms. Shriya Sharma and Ms. Jyoti Garg for R1, Mr. Jalaj Agarwal for R2, Mr. A. K. Behera, Sr. Adv. assisted by Ms. Madhumita Bhattacharjee, Mr. Debanjan Mandal, Mr. Kartikey Bhatt and Mr. Tanish Arora for R3
