Delhi High Court imposes ₹20k costs on Centre for concealing facts in Sameer Wankhede promotion case

The Delhi High Court on Friday imposed costs of ₹20,000 on the Central government for concealing facts in its plea seeking review of the High Court judgment upholding a Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) order to promote former Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officer Sameer Wankhede [Union of India v. Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede].

A Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain said that it "strongly deprecates" the Central government's conduct and dismissed the review petition.

"We expect that the petitioner as a state would disclose all facts truthfully before filing the petition...For this, we dismiss the present review petition with a cost of ₹20,000... This message has to be sent," the Court said.

Last year, the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), constituted for considering the case of the eligible ad-hoc officers for regular promotion to the post of Joint Commissioner, had kept Wankhede's case in a sealed cover. It was stated that cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are pending against him and also pointed out that he was facing departmental proceedings.

However, the Principal Bench of CAT in December 2024 ordered that the sealed cover be opened, and in case Wankhede's name is recommended by the Union Public Service Commission, the Central government must promote him to the post of Joint Commissioner with effect from January 2021.

The government challenged the order, which was dismissed by the High Court on August 28, 2025.

A review petition against the order was heard today by the High Court.

In its review plea, the Central government stated that after the Court reserved its judgment on July 29 and before the pronouncement on August 28, departmental proceedings were initiated against Wankhede. 

It was contended that the High Court order was based on the premise that no chargesheet existed against Wankhede. 

“Since that premise stood demonstrably incorrect on the date of pronouncement, review is warranted to prevent manifest injustice and to realign the relief with the true factual matrix,” the Court government said. 

After considering the case, the High Court noted that the Central government did not disclose to the Court that by an order passed in August 2025, the CAT stayed the chargesheet (departmental proceedings) against Wankhede.

The Court recorded that the CAT order was passed before the Central government filed for review, and yet it was not disclosed in the review petition.

Advocates T Singh Dev, Jatin Parashar and Shadaab Anwar appeared for Sameer Wankhede.

The central government was represented through Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Ashish Dixit.