Consult us before bringing Bill on CAPF service conditions: retired CAPF officials to govt.

As the government is all set to introduce a Bill to regulate the service conditions in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the ongoing Budget session, retired CAPF officials questioned the government’s intention demanding that the Bill be put up for public consultation.

The Union Cabinet on March 10 approved the CAPF (General Administration) Bill, 2026, days after retired CAPF officials filed a contempt petition against Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan for not implementing a May 2025 Supreme Court ruling to progressively reduce Indian Police Service (IPS) deputation up to the rank of Inspector General in CAPFs and grant them organised group stature.

The retired officials, who addressed a press conference in New Delhi on Friday (March 20, 2026), said that unlike the IPS officers, the CAPF officials do not have a lobby and they cannot be “politically manipulated”.

‘Grievances not heard’

Sanjiv Sood, retired additional Director General, Border Security Force (BSF) said: “Our grievances are not heard as our people are not able to reach the top positions in CAPFs. Despite the SC judgment, the government is discriminating us through this Bill.”

Retired BSF officer Vikas Chandra stated that they should be consulted before the Bill is introduced as they are the stakeholders.

K.K. Sharma, who retired as an IG from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and has served in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab during the peak-militancy years in mid-1980s to 1990s, said that when police stations in Punjab used to shut down by 5 p.m. in Punjab, it was the CRPF which used to patrol and provide security to the police.

Though the contents of the Bill are not known yet, CAPF officials are apprehensive that it is being brought in to negate the top court’s ruling.

They said an officer who joins at the rank of an Assistant Commandant does not get a promotion even after putting in 16 years of service whereas their counterparts in the IPS get three to four promotions during the same period.

Presently, 20% of posts in the rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and 50% of posts in the rank of IG in CAPFs are reserved for IPS officers through an executive order. The total strength of CAPFs is around 10 lakh, which includes 13,000 Group A cadre officers. Recently, Parliament was informed that there are around 93,000 vacancies in all ranks in CAPFs.

On May 23, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that Group A Executive Cadre officers of CAPFs are Organised Group A Services (OGAS) for all purposes. Besides progressively reducing the IPS deputation in CAPFs up to the level of IGs in the next two years, the court asked for a time-bound review of cadre and service rules in six months. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) challenged the judgment but on October 28, 2025 the apex court dismissed the review petition, making the ruling final. The MHA is the cadre-controlling authority of both CAPFs and IPS.