Shah Bano 2.0
The Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government's legislative action to overturn a historic Supreme Court ruling that had maintained a divorced Muslim woman's claim to maintenance under secular law is seen by the Modi Government as a black spot in which the Legislature encroached the Judiciary under intense pressure from conservative Muslim groups who viewed the verdict as an interference in Sharia. Therefore, to appease a particular group, the government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 against the Shah Bano judgement of the Supreme Court of India. On 10th February, 2026, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Ms. Aishwarya Bhati on behalf of the Government of India, during the initial proceedings of contempt case against the Home Secretary and others by officers of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) used the term “Statutory Intervention” by the government against the true implementation of the Supreme Court Judgement allowing the CAPFs their long pending dues in the form of Organized Group A Service (OGAS), raises a serious question about the government’s intentions towards the implementation of a legally binding court ruling which has already attained finality. The ASG’s remark about statutory intervention in this matter aired the speculations whether the present-day government is going to commit the same mistake which is generally encashed by them to take political mileage against the Congress. Is Shah Bano 2.0 going to happen? Before examining the government’s stand on this case, it would be appropriate to just recap the happening and timeline of the entire matter and try to understand, why the officers of the CAPFs who are generally considered as the most disciplined lot among all the government servants are fighting a never-ending legal battle against the government and the system- The Crown Representative Police (CRP) was formed in the year 1939. The CRP was rechristened as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) by the visionary leader and the first Home Minister of India, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel in 1949. Soon it became the most favourite internal security force of the country, who not only handled the law-and order issues effectively but also protected the borders of the country. The Hot Spring (1959) at Chinese border and the Sardar Post (1965) at Rann of Kutch against Pakistan are the examples of indomitable courage and saga of unmatched bravery displayed by the CRPF. The list of such gallants is infinite and can’t be put in a limited article. Later on, the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) also raised due to the increasing challenges against internal and border security. These five supra-mentioned forces are combinedly known as CAPFs and are the backbone of India’s internal and border security. Except, CRPF all other CAPFs raised after the independence of India and they borrowed their initial leadership from the Indian Army and Indian Police Service (IPS). CRPF on the other hand drew its initial leadership from the British Indian Army and the Imperial Police (IP). During 1960s, Indian Army showed its inability to provide sufficient number of officers due to increased tension at borders and states were not in a position to spare large number of IPS officers for central deputation in CAPFs, so government decided to create own cadres for CAPFs (initially for CRPF). First such cadre of officers for CRPF was recruited in 1961 and given training along with the IPS probationers at Central Police Training College (CPTC) Mount Abu, Rajasthan. Later on, cadre strength of officers increased and different academies for different CAPFs established. Some prominent academies are, Internal Security Academy (ISA), Mount Abu for CRPF (erstwhile CPTC of IPS), CRPF Academy, Gurugram and BSF Academy, Tekanpur. The Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) who is responsible for the cadre management of Group A services, very well recognised the Group A cadres of CRPF and BSF in its early monographs of 1986 and 1993, which had published the list of all such Group A services which were constitutionally constituted as per the functional requirement of the government of India, which were later termed as Organized Group A Services (OGAS). Thus, the Central Government had officially admitted in its internal monographs that the CRPF and BSF were Organised Services way back since 1986. The 6th Central Pay Commission introduced Non-Functional Financial Upgradation (NFFU) in 2008 but it was denied to CAPF officers, citing that they did not belong to OGAS, which sparked mass litigations and a sense of betrayal from the own Cadre Controlling Authority (CCA) i.e. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The unfair treatment to CAPFs was going on since 1986 itself, which was minor in nature but denial of NFFU was the highest level of unfair treatment to a service which was the backbone of internal security of the nation. The top leadership of CAPFs was from IPS and the say of CAPF cadre officers in policy making was minimal, but the top leadership miserably failed to protect the interests of its own subordinate commanders. In stead of taking the matter of injustice to CCA, the top leadership acted against cadres of their own organizations, which started the legal battle against the CCA and the top leadership. Actually, the legal battle was never against IPS, it was simply the fight for the right of pay parity which was extended to almost all the Group A services barring CAPFs and some isolated Group A posts. Government categorically refused to extend pay parity as per IAS+2 to CAPFs so the legal battle intensified and ultimately the Delhi High Court in 2015 ruled in favour of CAPF officers that they are part of OGAS since 1986 and are entitled to all consequential benefits of OGAS including NFFU. The Government of India took the matter to the Supreme Court (UOI Vs Harananda) which upheld the Delhi HC ruling in 2019. Consequently, after the dismissal of government’s plea at the apex court, it recognized CAPFs as OGAS and issued notifications to extend consequential benefits accordingly. The CCA and top leadership of CAPFs started to implement the court order half heartedly. They provided the fractured NFFU without considering CAPFs as OGAS, in which a batch was supposed to get financial parity in line with other OGAS but own leadership made the mockery of NFFU. It can be understood by taking any random example of CAPF batch vis a vis corresponding IAS batch. IAS 2005 batch got promoted to the level of Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) in 2021, so as per NFFU guidelines, if an officer of OGAS is not promoted due to stagnation then the entire batch would get NFFU at SAG level after 2 years, so in that case the officers of CAPF 2005 batch should have been given SAG in 2023, but interestingly CRPF officers of that batch are still waiting even NFSG in 2026, which otherwise, should have been given after 13 years of services in 2018 itself. These gross injustices and the frequent denial of amending recruitment rules (RRs) in conformity with OGAS and framing of new service rules (SRs) led to another round of litigation. In a landmark final judgment (Sanjay Prakash v. Union of India), the Supreme Court on May 23, 2025 ruled that CAPFs are OGAS for "all purposes," not just financial ones. It further ordered- To complete the long-overdue cadre review and framing of new RR and SR within six months. Phased reduction of IPS deputation quota up to the Inspector General (IG) level within two years. On October 31, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed the Union Government's review petition, making the May 23, 2025 verdict final and binding. Observing the ill intentions of the CCA and their own top leaderships of respective CAPFs, petitioners of the CAPF cadres again approached the supreme court in January 2026 to initiate the contempt proceedings against the union Home Secretary and the Director Generals (DGs) of respective CAPFs. Actually, instead of implementing the judgement in its true spirit, the CCA is still trying to subvert and sabotage the spirit of the judgement. MHA, which is the CCA for both the CAPF and IPS cadres is actually trying to appease the later one at the cost of violating the rights of equality of the former. Instead of gradual reduction of IPS officers at the level of IG, MHA has sped up the induction of IPS at the level of IG and even at the level of DIG. Cadre review, which was supposed to be completed within six months is going on half-heartedly at snail’s pace. Nothing has been initiated for Service Rules and Recruitment Rules so far. What is the way forward- To alleviate stagnation among Group A service officers, the concept of NFFU was presented in 2006 as one of the recommendations made by the Sixth Central Pay Commission. As stated by the Court, "the grievance is focused on the existing recruitment rules which provide for lateral entry into their respective services by way of deputation to various posts by officers belonging to the IPS, in the process resulting in complete stagnation in their service careers." The IPS and MHA argued that elimination of lateral entrance would be the next step once the CAPFs are designated as OGAS for "all purposes." Here, government needs to understand one thing that CAPF cadres are one among the 60 odd different Group A cadres managed by the DOPT. After implementation of the recommendations of the 6th CPC, when almost all OGAS reframed their SRs and RRs to make their respective service in conformity with the DOPT guidelines, discriminating CAPFs even after clear verdict of Supreme Court is unfair and unjust. The primary idea of NFFU was to address the existing stagnation in some services by way of providing relief in terms of financial parity. Here, MHA has completely closed its eyes for the CAPFs, which are facing the acute stagnations ever since their origin. In almost all OGAS, officers are getting promotions at the time frame of 4, 9, 13, 17 and 25 years of respective Group A service. Every service is providing 3rd promotion in 13 years in a time bound manner, whereas officers of CRPF are waiting for their first promotion even after completing 15 years of Group A service. This situation is getting even worse at SAG level, where most of the officers of other OGAS are reaching in time bound 17 years of service. Contrary to that, CRPF officers are neither getting SAG level post in time bound manner nor NFFU. Against the 17 years norm for SAG, CRPF officers are waiting for NFFU of SAG even after completing 30 years of Group A service. Internal security is facing new challenges every other day. To make the internal security robust, we need a dedicated and highly motivated leadership which can face any challenge with confidence and might. Unfortunately, the government has failed to address the genuine grievances of the CAPF cadres which are the backbone of the internal security and their contribution is not lesser than any other service. Instead of addressing the core issue of leadership, the government became the biggest litigant against its own cadres, who are simply asking for genuine rights to equality and fair treatment within their organizations, where they are working hard and making significant contributions even at the extent of the supreme sacrifices. The judgement of the apex court has already got finality so it is binding in nature. The government can’t backtrack from here. It has to give the long pending dues to CAPF officers, who have rightfully earned. This fight was never against the government or the IPS, it was simply a fight for genuine rights of an individual to serve the country with pride, self-esteem and dignity which are the guiding principles provided by the constitution of India. If the government really think that a closed cadre without IPS is not in the larger interest of the nation, then it may integrate both the cadres on equal terms and conditions like the way government integrated the different Group A cadres of railways into Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS). The NITI Aayog has already advocated “One Nation, One Service” in 2019 in its vision document, “Strategy for New India@75” . Similar suggestions have also been given by Shri Kamal Kumar, Former Director, SVPNPA. According to him, “The CAPFs and the IPS constitute crucial links in the all-important chain of the country’s internal security architecture.” As the world is heading towards hybrid warfare where the emerging challenges demand a long-term futuristic vision with the Nation First approach to make India a developed nation by 2047. Any casual, half-hearted, or makeshift approach towards India’s internal security will lead us nowhere, and reduce the chances of achieving our dreams in time. Hence, for a developed and prosperous India (Viksit aur Samriddh Bharat) we need an inclusive leadership without any discrimination among different cadres. A unified cadre for internal security is the need of the hour. Now, we again come to the heading of this article, whatever the government wishes they can do prospectively, there is no problem, afterall it's democracy where temporary political leadership rules on the advice of permanent bureaucratic leadership. However, instead of implementing the Supreme Court verdict in its true sense, if the government dares to jump into adventurism like statutory intervention or the mistake made in the Shah Bano case by previous government, may backfire and adversely affect the image of the present-day government, which may have long lasting effects on the Indian internal security architecture. So, any step taken against the spirit of the apex court verdict would have its own consequences.
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