Delhi HC tells Centre to consider IRS officer Sameer Wankhede's promotion if eligible

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Centre to find out the UPSC's recommendation regarding the promotion of IRS officer and former NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede, and promote him in case there is such a commendation.

A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain said there was no admission of guilt on the part of Wankhede, while the CBI and ED investigations against him were still pending.

The bench passed the order while upholding the Central Administrative Tribunal's December 2024 ruling, which had directed the government to open the sealed cover pertaining to Wankhede's promotion and if his name was recommended by the UPSC, then promote him to the post of additional commissioner with effect from January 1, 2021.

The government had approached the high court, claiming that Wankhede's case was placed in a sealed cover due to the cases lodged against him.

The bench, however, noted that "as on today, there is no departmental proceedings pending against the respondent wherein any charge sheet had been issued against him".

Wankhede was also neither placed under suspension nor any charge sheet in a criminal prosecution was filed against him, the bench said.

"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 investigation has been completed by the CBI or the ED, resulting in a charge sheet being filed against the respondent.

"As far as the departmental proceedings are concerned, the petitioners itself has advised CVC not to proceed further with the same," the bench said.

The government challenged the CAT order, claiming that there were grave allegations against Wankhede for which an FIR and an ECIR were registered, and the CVC on an earlier occasion had also advised initiation of disciplinary proceedings.

"However, we may herein also note that the CBI itself took time to complete the investigation, as recorded in the order dated July 8, 2025, passed by the Bombay High Court and referred herein above, and the petitioners itself advised the CVC not to proceed further with the Departmental Inquiry," the bench noted.

Wankhede was represented by senior advocates Sudhir Nandrajog and Arvind Nayar, and advocate T Singhdev, while advocate Ashish Dixit appeared for the Union of India.

Wankhede, a 2008 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, made headlines for allegedly demanding Rs 25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's family by threatening to implicate his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case during his tenure in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai in 2021. PTI UK RHL