The Delhi High Court refused to interfere with the CAT’s order staying departmental proceedings against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede linked to the Aryan Khan drug case. The Court instead directed the tribunal to decide Wankhede’s challenge to the charge memo expeditiously within a fixed timeline.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to interfere with an order passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (Central Administrative Tribunal) which had stayed the departmental enquiry against Indian Revenue Service officer Sameer Wankhede in connection with allegations linked to the 2021 Aryan Khan drug case.
The matter arose from a charge memorandum issued to Wankhede on August 18, 2025. The charges alleged that in June 2022, Wankhede had sought sensitive and confidential information from a departmental legal advisor of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) regarding the 2021 drug case, even though he had already been formally relieved from the NCB in January 2022.
Another charge accused him of obtaining an assurance from the legal advisor to influence the course of the Aryan Khan drug case investigation.
Wankhede challenged the charge memorandum before the CAT. On August 27, the tribunal restrained the Centre from taking any further action against him. Aggrieved by this interim protection, the Centre approached the Delhi High Court seeking to set aside the tribunal’s order.
A bench comprising Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan heard the Centre’s petition. The Court took note of the fact that the Centre had approached it almost five months after the CAT passed the stay order. The bench questioned the delay and the alleged urgency shown by the Centre at a late stage.
During the hearing, the Court asked the Centre’s counsel pointed questions and observed,
“The inquiry was stayed on 27th. For the last five months, you didn’t take any steps, and today, when the matter is listed for final argument, you have come. Tell us what has caused the prejudice?”
The submissions on behalf of the Centre were made by advocates Ravi Prakash and Astu Khandelwal.
After considering the submissions, the High Court declined to interfere with the CAT’s interim order. Instead, it disposed of the Centre’s petition by directing the tribunal to decide Wankhede’s plea expeditiously.
The Court said,
“Keeping in view the aforesaid, the writ is disposed of with the following directions, the tribunal will take sincere efforts for disposal of the petition on 14/1 or within next ten days from 14/1.”
Earlier, while pressing for setting aside the CAT’s order, Centre’s counsel Ravi Prakash argued that the tribunal had committed an error by staying the departmental proceedings by relying on an interim order passed by the Bombay High Court in June 2023.
He pointed out that the Bombay High Court had merely restrained the Central Bureau of Investigation from taking coercive steps against Wankhede in a corruption and extortion case, and that order had no connection with the departmental enquiry initiated by the Centre.
Prakash submitted that the relief granted by the tribunal was based on a “totally unconnected case” and that the CAT’s order was preventing the authorities from carrying out the disciplinary inquiry against Wankhede.
On the other hand, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, appearing for Wankhede, opposed the Centre’s plea.
He informed the High Court that Wankhede’s challenge to the charge memorandum was already listed before the CAT for final hearing on January 14, and therefore, there was no reason for the High Court to interfere at this stage.
Sameer Wankhede had earlier served as the zonal director of the Mumbai unit of the NCB and was the officer who arrested Aryan Khan in 2021. Subsequently, he came under the scanner of multiple agencies, including the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, in July 2023.
The agencies alleged that he had demanded a bribe of ₹25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan in return for not implicating his son Aryan Khan in the drug case.
With the Delhi High Court declining to set aside the CAT’s stay order, the focus now shifts to the tribunal, which has been asked to make sincere efforts to finally decide Wankhede’s plea within the time frame fixed by the Court.
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