The Delhi High Court has upheld CAT’s order directing the Centre to promote IRS officer Sameer Wankhede as Joint Commissioner if eligible. The court said there was no chargesheet, suspension, or departmental proceedings against him.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has upheld the decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had directed the central government to consider the promotion of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede to the post of Joint Commissioner (JC) of Customs and Indirect Taxes, provided he is found eligible.
Sameer Wankhede, a 2008-batch IRS officer, had come into the public eye in 2021 when, as the Zonal Director of the Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), he arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, in a drugs case.
Later, Wankhede himself faced scrutiny after agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) began probing him in July 2023 for allegedly demanding a Rs 25 crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not implicating Aryan in the high-profile case.
The case before the High Court was heard by a division bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain. They delivered their verdict on Thursday while dealing with the Centre’s challenge against the CAT’s order of December 2024.
The Tribunal had directed the Centre to open the sealed cover containing Wankhede’s promotion file and grant him promotion with effect from January 2021, if his name was recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The background of the case goes back to March of the previous year, when the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) was considering eligible officers for regular promotion to the post of Joint Commissioner.
At that time, Wankhede’s case was kept in a sealed cover instead of being decided, which led him to file an application before the CAT.
In its petition before the High Court, the Centre, represented by counsel Ashish Dixit, argued that the CAT had failed to take into account the fact that multiple cases against Wankhede were still pending with the CBI and ED.
Dixit informed the court that the Centre had referred a complaint to the CBI alleging that Wankhede had used a forged caste certificate to secure government employment.
He also said that another complaint, received in July 2023, accused Wankhede of trying to access confidential information about an ongoing investigation, which was also under departmental probe.
On the other hand, Wankhede’s lawyer, senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, argued that the circumstances required for keeping an officer’s promotion in a sealed cover were not applicable to his client.
He said there was no charge sheet, no departmental inquiry, and no criminal case against Wankhede at that stage.
He added that the CBI’s case was still only at the stage of investigation and the filing of a charge sheet was far away.
After hearing both sides, the Delhi High Court agreed with the Tribunal’s order and directed the Centre to comply within one month.
The bench noted that, as of now, no departmental proceedings had been initiated against Wankhede, no charge sheet had been issued, he had not been suspended, and neither the CBI nor the ED had filed a charge sheet against him.
The bench said:
“As noted hereinabove, in the present case, there is no admission of guilt on the part of the respondent, and it is not the case of the petitioners that the investigation has been completed by the CBI or the ED, resulting in a chargesheet being filed against the respondent. As far as the Departmental Proceedings are concerned, the petitioners themselves have advised the CVC not to proceed further with the same. We find no infirmity in the impugned order passed by the learned Tribunal. The petition is, accordingly, dismissed.”
With this order, the Delhi High Court has given relief to Wankhede, who will now be considered for promotion to the post of Joint Commissioner if he meets the eligibility conditions set by the UPSC.
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