Supreme Court Stays Allahabad HC Order To Centre To Assess Suitability Of UP Home Secretary Sanjay Prasad
Gursimran Kaur Bakshi
11 Jun 2026 5:27 PM IST
The Supreme Court today(June 11) stayed the Allahabad High Court's recent order criticising the conduct of Uttar Pradesh Additional Cheif Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad IAS, and referring his file to the Dept of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for the assessment of his suitability for future assignments by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
The bench comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Atul S Chandurkar stayed the order while hearing a petition filed by Sanjay Prasad against the High Court's adverse remarks and directions.
It may be recalled that on June 3, a stern order was passed by Justice Vinod Diwakar of the Allahabad High Court, who took exception to the "deliberate and calculated attempt" of Prasad, serving as Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Government of UP, to undermine the authority of the Court.
The High Court was dealing with a habeas corpus petition filed by one Megha Raikwar, seeking direction to the State authorities to recover her 15-year-old daughter (corpus) from the alleged illegal custody of one Respondent.
The issue arose when the High Court was informed that the chargesheet filed in this case didn't name the real accused. Deliberating on this, the High Court found that the charge-sheet was not in conformity with the earlier directions issued by the High Court in Subhash Chandra & Others v. State of U.P. & Another, wherein exhaustive directions were issued to ensure that criminal investigations are fair, scientific, and legally sustainable.
It sought an explanation from the senior office, who responded vide an affidavit stating that the State of Uttar Pradesh proposed to challenge HC's judgment in Subhash Chandra before the Supreme Court. He urged the High Court not to pass any further orders concerning the implementation or enforcement of the directions issued in the said judgment until the Supreme Court decides on the “proposed Special Leave Petition (SLP)” of the state government.
Though the High Court deferred the matter and awaited information regarding the status of the proposed SLP, no information was provided to it till the time of dictation and signing of the order, despite a lapse of more than 3 months since February and more than 1 year since the judgment was passed.
Taking strong exception to the same, the High Court observed that the proposed SLP was relied upon by the ACS (Home) merely as a justification for postponing scrutiny of the continued non-compliance with the directions, rather than as a bona fide and diligent effort to obtain an authoritative determination from the Supreme Court at the earliest opportunity.
Noting that this was a "deliberate and calculated attempt" of the ACS (Home) to "undermine" the Court's authority, the High Court directed the Registrar (Compliance) to transmit the order to the DoPT. It further directed that the file be placed before the ACC to assess his suitability for future assignments.
Case Details: SANJAY PRASAD Vs MEGHA RAIKWAR|Diary No. 35822 / 2026
