CRPF Officers Face Stagnation In Promotion: Delhi High Court Directs Centre To Look Into Plea

The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to decide on a plea by a group of officers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) upon their stated grievance that they have not been promoted in the past 10 years.

The petition was moved by directly appointed Assistant Commandants of the Executive Cadre, who claimed that despite having put more than 10 years of service "they have not earned any promotion till date", and that as per the current official calculations taking into account the numbers of vacancies, superannuation and promotions, no promotion could be expected for another 5-6 years.

Hearing the petition, a bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Asha Menon said, "We direct that the respondent committee while carrying out the cadre review exercise would consider the present writ petition as a representation and take the same into account."

The plea also stated that some officers had given a host of suggestions to the Director General, CRPF for the next cadre review, which was slated to be completed in June, 2021, however, they did not receive any reply on the representation.

It further directed that, "While carrying out the Cadre review, the respondent-Committee shall focus on the aforesaid problems and give reasons if the suggestions put forth by the petitioners are not accepted."

The officers pointed out that they faced stagnation despite being in the Executive Cadre which is an organized Group A Service, and the apparent "main pillar" of all other auxiliary branches of the force, which was putting them at a disadvantage vis-à-vis their counterparts in other Armed Forces like the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and vis-à-vis their counterparts in other cadres of the CRPF itself.