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2025 Supreme(SC) 885

B. R. GAVAI, AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH
In Re: Performance Appraisal Reports of the Officers of the Indian Forest Service – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent


Advocates appeared:
Amicus Curiae Mr. P. Parameshwar,Sr.Adv. Mr. Mukunda,Adv. Ms. Kanti,Adv. Raji Gururaj,Ad v. Mr. Shreenivas Patil,Adv. Ms. Chitransha Singh Sikarwar,Adv. Mr. Harish N. Salve, Sr. Adv. [A.C.] (N.P.) Mr. A.D.N. Rao, Sr. Advocate [A.C.] (N.P.) Ms. Aparajita Singh, Sr. Advocate [A.C.] (N.P.) Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhury, Advocate [A.C.] Ms. Rani Mishra
For Petitioner(s)/Applicant(s): Mr. T. Harish Kumar, AOR M/S. Mitter & Mitter Co., AOR M/S. Lawyer S Knit & Co, AOR Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, AOR M/S. Plr Chambers And Co., AOR Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Tabrez Ahmad, Adv. Mr. Tashriq Ahmad, Adv. Applicant(s)-in-person
For Respondent(s)/Applicant(s): Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Mr. Raj Kishor Choudhary, AOR Mr. Shuvodeep Roy, AOR Mr. Deepayan Dutta, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR Ms. Hemantika Wahi, AOR Mr. Mohd. Irshad Hanif, AOR Mr. Punit Dutt Tyagi, AOR Mr. Rathin Das, AOR Mr. Ratan Kumar Choudhuri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kulshreshtha, AOR Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Parth Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Shubham Singh, Adv. Mr. Youkteshwari Prasad, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Verma, Adv. Mr. Mata Prasad Pathak, Adv. Mr. Vijay Singh, Adv. Ms. Ambali Vedasen, Adv. Mr. Chandrakant Siddarkar, Adv. Mr. Rajmani Mohanty, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Tomar, Adv. Mr. Soumyadeep Chatterjee, Adv.
Ms. Sushma Suri, AOR Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, AOR Mr. A. N. Arora, AOR Mr. Irshad Ahmad, AOR Mr. G. Prakash, AOR Mr. E. M. S. Anam, AOR Mrs. Bina Gupta, AOR Mr. P. V. Yogeswaran, AOR Mr. Jitendra Mohan Sharma, AOR Ms. Malini Poduval, AOR Ms. C. K. Sucharita, AOR Ms. Binu Tamta, AOR Mr. Shibashish Misra, AOR Applicant(s)-in-person Mr. K. L. Janjani, AOR Mr. Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Pawan Kumar Shukla, Adv. Mr. Vijay Kumar Pandey, Adv. Mr. Naresh K. Sharma, AOR Ms. A. Sumathi, AOR Mr. Jai Prakash Pandey, AOR Mrs. Anjani Aiyagari, AOR Mr. K. V. Vijayakumar, AOR Mrs. Rani Chhabra, AOR Ms. Divya Roy, AOR Mr. Tarun Johri, AOR Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Ajit Pudussery, AOR Mr. Ashok Mathur, AOR M/S. Parekh & Co., AOR M/S. K J John And Co, AOR Mr. Amarjit Singh Bedi, Adv. Ms. Surekha Raman, Adv. Mr. Shreyash Kumar, Adv. Mr. Harshit Singh, Adv. Mr. Yashwant Sanjenbam, Adv. Mr. V. Balachandran, AOR Mr. S. C. Birla, AOR Mr. Ram Swarup Sharma, AOR Mr. T. Mahipal, AOR Mr. Umesh Bhagwat, AOR Mrs. M. Qamaruddin, AOR Mr. H. S. Parihar, AOR Ms. Baby Krishnan, AOR Mr. P. R. Ramasesh, AOR Ms. Adviteeya, Adv. Mr. Rakesh K. Sharma, AOR Mr. P. N. Gupta, AOR Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR Mr. A.n.s. Nadkarni, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Nilay Gupta, Adv. Ms. Deepti Arya, Adv. Mr. Salvador Santosh, Adv. Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR Mr. Kuldip Singh, AOR Ms. Bina Madhavan, AOR Ms. Pratibha Jain, AOR Mr. Rajat Joseph, AOR Mr. Gopal Prasad, AOR Ms. Jyoti Mendiratta, AOR Mr. S.. Udaya Kumar Sagar, AOR Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, AOR Ms. Sharmila Upadhyay, AOR Mr. Tejaswi Kumar Pradhan, AOR M/S. Arputham Aruna And Co, AOR Mrs. Nandini Gore, AOR Mr. Raj Kumar Mehta, AOR Ms. Madhu Moolchandani, AOR Mrs. B. Sunita Rao, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Surya Kant, AOR Mr. E. C. Vidya Sagar, AOR M/S. M. V. Kini & Associates, AOR Mrs. Manik Karanjawala, AOR Mr. Kamal Mohan Gupta, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. P. Parmeswaran, AOR Ms. Sujata Kurdukar, AOR Ms. Charu Mathur, AOR Mr. Bhavanishankar V.gadnis, Adv. Mr. A. Venayagam Balan, AOR Mr. Vishwanath Gadnis, Adv. Mr. Sudarsh Menon, AOR Mr. Ramesh Babu M. R., AOR Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR Mr. Shiva Pujan Singh, AOR Ms. K. V. Bharathi Upadhyaya, AOR Mr. Sufyan Hasan, Adv. Ms. Hema Malik, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Mehta, AOR Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Rajesh, AOR M/S. Corporate Law Group, AOR Mr. Lakshmi Raman Singh, AOR Mr. B V Deepak, AOR Mr. T. N. Singh, AOR Mr. C. L. Sahu, AOR Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR Ms. Abha R. Sharma, AOR Mr. Abhishek Chaudhary, AOR Mrs. Rekha Pandey, AOR Mr. Gopal Singh, AOR Mr. T. V. George, AOR Mr. Krishnanand Pandeya, AOR Mr. Neeraj Shekhar, AOR Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR Mr. Rajesh Singh, AOR Mr. M. Yogesh Kanna, AOR Mr. Vikash Singh, AOR Mrs. Pragya Baghel, AOR Ms. Deepanwita Priyanka, AOR Mr. Raghvendra Kumar, AOR Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv. Mr. Shireesh Tyagi, Adv. Applicant-in-person Mr. Anant Mann, AOR Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Lakshmeesh S. Kamath, AOR Mrs. Samriti Ahuja, Adv. Ms. Aditi Prakash, Adv. Ms. Divija Mahajan, Adv. Mr. Gopal Balwant Sathe, AOR Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. K.M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv. Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Anuj Srinivas Udupa, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Sharma, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Ms. Sunieta Ojha, AOR Mr. Dinesh Chandra Pandey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, AOR Mr. Himinder Lal, AOR Ms. Shruti Jose, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Aravindh S., AOR Ms. Jyoti P, Adv. Mrs. Kirti Renu Mishra, AOR Mr. Atul Sharma, AOR Mr. Anirudh Sanganeria, AOR Mr. Chinmay Deshpande, Adv. Mr. Shrey Kapoor , AOR Ms. Anne Mathew, AOR Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR Mr. Abhishek Atrey, AOR Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General Mr. K.M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Ms. Mrinal Gopal Elker, AOR Mr. Chinmoy Chaitanya, Adv. Ms. Chhavi Khandelwal, Adv. Mr. Dhaval Mehrotra, AOR Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Binay Kumar Das, AOR Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Ms. Neha Das, Adv. Mr. Shivam Saksena, Adv. Ms. Lakshmi N. Kaimal, AOR Mr. Subhasish Mohanty, AOR Mr Rahul Jain, AOR Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. V. N. Raghupathy, AOR Mr. Raghavendra M. Kulkarni, Adv. M/S. D.s.k. Legal, AOR Ms. Shibani Ghosh, AOR Mr. Chandra Bhushan Prasad, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Mr. Saurabh Rajpal, Adv. Mr. Amogh Bansal, Adv. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR Ms. Pallavi Langar, AOR Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, AOR Mr. Saurabh Singh Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Yatinder Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Pankaj Sharma, Adv. M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR Mr. Sandeep Kumar Jha, AOR Mr. Shiv Mangal Sharma, A.A.G. Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, Adv. Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR Mr. Mohit Paul, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Manika Tripathy, AOR Ms. Ankita Sharma, AOR Mr. Arjun D Singh, Adv. Ms. Supreeta Sharanagouda, AOR Mr. Sharanagouda Patil, Adv. Mr. Jyotish Pandey, Adv. Ms. Adarsh Nain, AOR Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Mr. Keshav Singh, Adv. Mr. Bp Naidu, Adv. Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Ms. Purnima Krishna, AOR Mr. M.f.philip, Adv. Mr. Karamveer Singh Yadav, Adv. Mr. Togin M. Babichen, Adv. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. Gaurang Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Narender Hooda, Sr. Adv. Mr. K. S. Rupal, Adv. Mr. Shiv Bhatnagar, Adv. Mr. Raman Walia, Adv. Mr. Yuvraj Nandal, Adv. Ms. Pallvi Hooda, Adv. Ms. Tannu, Adv. Mr. Mayank Raghav, Adv. Dr. Surender Singh Hooda, AOR Mr. Sunil Kumar Verma, AOR Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh, AOR Ms. Seita Vaidyalingam, AOR Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Ms. Anzu. K. Varkey, AOR Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR Mr. T. R. B. Sivakumar, AOR Mr. Sujit Kumar Mishra , AOR Mr. Aldanish Rein, AOR Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Nishanth Patil, AOR M/S. Venkat Palwai Law Associates, AOR Mr. Ajay Marwah, AOR Mr. Ravindra S. Garia, AOR Mr. Karan Sharma, AOR Mr. Vaibhav Srivastava, A.A.G. Ms. Sugandha Anand, AOR Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Deeptakirti Verma, AOR Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Mr. Chirag M. Shroff, AOR Ms. Mayuri Raghuvanshi, AOR Mr. Vivek Jain, AOR Ms. Garima Prashad, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Sudeep Kumar, AOR Ms. Manisha, Adv. Ms. Rupali, Adv. Ms. Rani Mishra, AOR Mr. Pukhrambam Ramesh Kumar, AOR Mr. Karun Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anupama Ngangom, Adv. Ms. Rajkumari Divyasana, Adv. Mr. Venkata Raghuvamsy D. , AOR Mr. Ajay Agarwal, A.A.G. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Ashiwan Mishra, Adv. Mr. Kamlendra Mishra, AOR Mr. Somesh Chandra Jha, AOR Ms. Ruchira Goel, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Ms. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Mr. Parth Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Mr. Tarun Gupta, AOR Mr. Sameer Abhyankar, AOR Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aakash Thakur, Adv. Ms. Ranjeeta Rohatgi, AOR Mr. Sanjay Upadhyay, Sr. Adv. Mr. Shubham Upadhyay, AOR Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Siddhartha Jha, AOR M/S. V. Maheshwari & Co., AOR Mr. Naved Anwar, Adv. Mr. Naveen .n, Adv. Mr. K Nagan Pillai, Adv. Mr. Jazib Siddiqui, Adv. Mr. Ayush Mittal, Adv. Mr. Oshin Maggu, Adv. Mr. Mayank Aggarwal, AOR Mr. Vineet Yadav, Adv. Mr. Amir Yadav, Adv. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, AOR Mr. Ravin Dubey, Adv. Mr. Ajit Singh, Adv. Mr. Naik H K., Adv. Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Mr. Ashutosh Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Suman Kukrety, AOR Mr. Naveen Kumar, AOR Mr. P. K. Manohar, AOR Mr. Vinod Sharma, AOR Ms. Surbhi Mehta, AOR Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Ms. Parul Shukla, AOR Mr. Abhishek Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prashant Kumar Umrao, AOR Mr. Arun K. Sinha, AOR Ms. Sakshi Kakkar, AOR Mr. Shakti Singh, Adv. Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR Mr. James P. Thomas, AOR Mr. S. Gowthaman, AOR Mr. A. Karthik, AOR Mr. Rajiv Kumar Choudhry , AOR Mr. Aastik Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Anurag Tandon, AOR Ms. Dr. Monika Gusain, Sr. Adv. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Hariom Yaduvanshi, Adv. Mr. Arjun Yaduvanshi, Adv. Ms. S. Harini, Adv. Mr. Avi Dhankhar, Adv. Mr. Vansmani Tripathi, Adv. Ms. Aahana Jaiswal, Adv. Ms. Drishti Rawal, Adv. Ms. Pragya Upadhyay, Adv. Ms. Drishti Saraf, Adv. Mr. Omanakuttan K. K., AOR Mr. Siddharth Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ajit Sharma, AOR Mr. Kanchan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Yuvraj Sinh C. Solanki, Adv. Mr. Lareb Habib Ansari, Adv. Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR Mr. K.s.rupal, Adv. Mr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Ms. Neha Singh, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Sharma, AOR Mrs. Aishwrya Bhati, A.S.G. Mrs. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G. Mr. Raj Bahadur Yadav, AOR Mr. Uday Prakash Yadav, Adv. Mr. Raghav Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sughosh Subramanium, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Suhasini Sen, Adv. Mr. S S Rebello, Adv. Mr. Samir Ali Khan, AOR Mr. Pranjal Sharma, Adv. Mr. Kashif Irshad Khan, Adv. Mr. Sachin Jaysing Patil, Adv. Mr. Geo Joseph, Adv. Mr. Risvi Muhammed, Adv. Mr. Nabil Khader, Adv. Mr. Sachin Patil, AOR Mr. Shubhranshu Padhi, AOR Mr. Nishe Rajen Shonker, AOR Mr. Alim Anvar, Adv. Ms. Anu K Hoy, Adv. Mr. Santhosh K, Adv. Mr. Nishit Agrawal, AOR Mr. Krishna Ballabh Thakur, AOR Ms. Aruna Gupta, AOR Ms. K. Enatoli Sema, AOR Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Chubalemla Chang, Adv. Mr. Prang Newmai, Adv. Mr. Shishir Deshpande, AOR Mr. Yusuf, AOR

Table of Content
1. challenge to g.o. regarding ifs reporting authority (Para 1 , 2 , 3)
2. arguments contesting g.o. compliance with prior judgments (Para 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8)
3. judicial analysis of statutory provisions and precedents (Para 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39)
4. reporting authority defined by hierarchy within ifs (Para 22 , 24 , 30)
5. quashing of g.o. for non-compliance with judicial directive (Para 40 , 41 , 42)

JUDGMENT :

B.R. GAVAI, CJI.

INDEX

(I)

INTRODUCTION

(II)

SUBMISSIONS

(III)

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

(i) Statutory Provisions

(ii) Internal Communications

(iii) Legal Precedents

(a) State of Haryana vs. P.C. Wadhwa , IPS, Inspector General of Police and Another

(b) Santosh Bharti vs. State of Madhya Pradesh

(iv) Order of this Court in I.A. No. 776 of 2002 in the present proceedings

(v) Recent judgment of this Court in State of Assam and Others vs. Binod Kumar and Others

(vi) Impugned G.O. dated 29th June 2024

(IV)

DIRECTIONS

(I) INTRODUCTION

1. The present batch of app

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