The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Centre’s stand on petitions moved by a group of trainee IAS and IPS officers of the 2018 batch seeking another chance to exercise cadre preference in parity with 20 other colleagues who were granted the relief by the apex court last month.
The apex court had on May 17 asked the Centre to accommodate 20 trainee IAS and IPS officers, who had challenged the government’s cadre allocation process for the 2018 batch, by increasing one post each in the State cadres of their preference this year.
A Vacation Bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Surya Kant asked Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Banerjee to file the Centre’s affidavit in the matter.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for a group of petitioners, argued that the Centre could not give concession to select candidates.
On May 6, the Delhi High Court had directed the Centre to undertake the exercise of the cadre allocation of IAS and IPS officers of the 2017 batch, after quashing its latest cadre allocation policy.
The High Court’s decision had come on plea by some successful IAS and IPS candidates contending that the Centre had not allocated the cadres to them as per their declared policy of merit-cum-preference.
The Centre had then moved the top court challenging the High Court’s decision.