Supreme Court Issues Contempt Notice To DoPT Secretary Over Delay In Considering IRS Officer's ITAT Appointment

The Supreme Court has issued notice to Rachna Shah IAS, the Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training, in a contempt petition for allegedly failing to convene a Search-cum-Selection Committee meeting to consider the appointment of an IRS officer to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which had been repeatedly stalled for several years.A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta was hearing the contempt petition filed by Captain Pramod Kumar Bajaj, seeking compliance of the Court's January 30, 2026 judgment, where the bench directed the Union Government to consider the appointment of the Appellant, within four weeks of the passing of an order, upon constituting the SCSC, whose decision needs to be informed to the petitioner. The petitioner had gone through almost four selection processes, but his appointment was stalled every time by the government, by putting cooked-up charges against him. In a judgment passed in the petitioner's favor, the bench had criticized the Union for deliberately blocking the appointment of the petitioner to the post of Member (Accountant), ITAT, despite his selection being recommended by an SCSC chaired by a sitting Supreme Court judge in 2014, where he secured All India Rank 1. “...at every stage of proceedings, the respondents have deliberately created hurdles in the path of the petitioner by either putting up cooked-up charges or failing to ensure compliance with the orders passed by various fora.”, the bench noted in the judgment. The Court had also imposed costs of Rs 5 Lakhs on the Union.Resultantly, the Court had directed DoPT to convene a fresh SCSC within four weeks, ensuring exclusion of the officer concerned, and to communicate the outcome to the petitioner within two weeks thereafter. "The respondent No.1-DoPT shall ensure that a fresh meeting of the SCSC is convened within a period of four weeks from today to consider the candidature of the petitioner for the above post, ensuring exclusion of “the Officer” from the said proceedings. The outcome of the SCSC proceedings shall be communicated to the petitioner within a further period of two weeks thereafter.", the court ordered. Claiming that the aforesaid order was not complied with, the petitioner filed a contempt petition against erring officials, against whom notice was issued to be returnable on April 14, 2026. In the meantime, the presence of the Respondents/contemnors was dispensed with. Cause Title: CAPTAIN PRAMOD KUMAR BAJAJ VERSUS RACHNA SHAH & ANR.Click here to download order

Supreme Court Issues Contempt Notice To DoPT Secretary Over Delay In Considering IRS Officer's ITAT Appointment

Yash Mittal

Tags