Punjab PCS officers move court over State Govt’s denial of IAS promotion
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/December 19,2025
Punjab Civil Services Executive Branch Officers Association has filed a case against the state government for ignoring their claim for promotion to IAS and on their plea the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday restrained the State of Punjab from taking further steps on the recommendations made by the Screening Committee for promotion to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) under the non-State civil services quota.
D.S. Patwalia, Senior Advocate with A.S. Chadha, Advocate appeared for the petitioners before the division bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Deepak Manchanda sitting judges in the Punjab and Haryana High Court
They Learned senior counsel for the petitioners inter alia submits that “promotion to the post of Punjab Cadre of Indian Administrative Services under Rule 8 (2) of the Indian Administrative Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1954 and the Indian Administrative Service (Appointment by Selection) Regulations, 1997 can be made from Non-State Civil Services Officers only under special circumstances and after evaluating the outstanding merit and ability of the eligible officers. He while referring to the circular dated 03.03.2025 issued by the respondents inviting applications from Group A (Class I) Gazetted Officers, submits that the circular was not published in any newspaper and was not brought to the notice of all other eligible Group A (Class I) Gazetted Officers in the State of Punjab and only the names of 32 officers have been short-listed by the Screening Committee. He while referring to the names at (Annexure P-6) submits that the names of the officers which have been recommended by the Screening Committee are primarily from two departments i.e., Water Supply and Sanitation Department and Excise and Taxation Department. No exercise for evaluating the outstanding merit and ability of the recommended candidates has been undertaken by the respondents before forwarding their names to the UPSC for their selection to the Indian Administrative Service. He further submits that under Rule 8 (2) read with Rule 9 (1) of the Indian Administrative Service (Recruitment) Rules, 1954, the appointments by promotion are restricted to not more than 15% of the posts available for recruitment to IAS in a calendar year. In the calendar year 2024-25, only 08 posts of IAS were available and therefore, only 01 appointment can be made through the afore-noted method. He while referring to para 9 of the petition submits that candidatures of few influential persons have been recommended.”
The division bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Deepak Manchanda sitting judges in the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice to the state.
Accepting the notice issued to the State of Punjab, Additional Advocate-General RS Pandher submitted that recruitment under a rule 8(2) could be made for 15 per cent of the total number of posts of promotion from the State Civil Service under Rule 8. He also stated that the notice inviting applications had been uploaded on the official website of the state government and sought time to file a reply.
The court has asked do so before the next date of hearing. The case is listed for January 22,2026.
