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The matter was heard by a Bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar in Mahendra Singh Deo v. Govind Mohan and Others.
Background
The contempt proceedings arise from the Supreme Court’s May 23, 2025 judgment in Sanjay Prakash & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. In that judgment, the Court directed that deputation posts in CAPF cadres up to the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) should be progressively reduced, with an outer limit of two years.
While examining compliance, the Court was informed that 46 IPS officers had been brought on deputation to the five CAPFs after the May 2025 judgment. The September 2 order had therefore sought an explanation from the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the procedure followed and the reasons for these deputations.
When the contempt matters came up at 2 pm on September 29, the Bench was informed that the cases had been struck off the cause list during the lunch break.
The Court recorded in its order:
"The Court has been informed at 2 pm that the case has been struck off from the cause list during the lunch break. Since it is a judicial order to get the case listed today at 2 pm, we direct the listing of this case tomorrow again at 2 pm, along with the other connected matters, again tomorrow, i.e. on 30.09.2026, at 02:00 PM, with a note by the Registry, as to why the matter was struck off from the cause list despite there being a judicial order."
The Registry was accordingly directed to place a note explaining the removal of the matter.
The Supreme Court directed that the contempt petitions, along with the connected matters, be listed again on September 30, 2026, at 2 pm. The Registry was also directed to provide its explanation regarding why the matters were struck off despite the earlier judicial order for their listing.
