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CAT extends lifeline to 8 Haryana officers awaiting IAS promotions
In July 2025, the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) recommended promotions and 18 officers were subsequently elevated to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
CAT has given partial relief to eight Haryana officers whose IAS promotions were kept provisional due to alleged irregularities in the 2002 HCS recruitment.
The Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) recent order has brought partial relief to eight Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officers, whose promotions to the IAS cadre were stalled by the alleged irregularities in the 2002 recruitment process. The controversy not only delayed their advancement but also cast its shadow over the other 18 officers.
In July 2025, the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) recommended promotions and 18 officers were subsequently elevated to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). However, for the remaining eight the DPC proposed only “provisional” promotions due to a chargesheet filed against them in a Hisar court regarding the alleged irregularities in the 2002 HCS batch.
After the meeting in 2025, a senior officer had told The Indian Express that there had been a view within the committee that these eight officers were otherwise fit for the promotion. “In the past cases, courts have quashed chargesheets. If the same happens here, the word ‘provisional’ would lose its meaning, and these officers would be deemed fit for promotion with immediate effect,” the officer had said.
The officer had also clarified: “If the chargesheet is not quashed by December 31, 2025, the recommendation will lapse. In that case, no notification will be issued for the promotion of these eight officers.”
As the deadline drew near and the chargesheet remained unresolved, one of the officers approached the CAT seeking interim directions to ensure that the “select list does not lapse until the next hearing”.
The counsel for the officer also informed the tribunal that the High Court had already stayed the operation and effect of the chargesheet.
Taking note of this, the CAT on December 23, 2025, ordered that the select list of the IAS officers should not lapse until January 6, 2026.
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After a few extensions, the tribunal in its latest hearing on January 27 directed that the interim order of December 23 would continue until April 27, 2026.
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