Dismissed¶21

Ashok Kumar v. Union of India and Ors.

Delhi HC2 Feb 2026W.P.(C)/1389/2026

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Ashok Kumar v. Union of India and Ors., W.P.(C) 1389/2026, Delhi High Court (Anil Kshetarpal & Amit Mahajan), decided 02.02.2026. Challenge to CAT Principal Bench order dated 12.01.2026 in M.A. No. 2280/2025 in O.A. No. 4762/2024 vacating stay dated 11.02.2025; integrated All India Seniority; Appraiser grade/cadre; Assistant Commissioner of Customs & Indirect Taxes; promotion/seniority finalization; no positive direction at interlocutory stage; Government free to take consequential steps; petition dismissed.

What did the court decide?

No relief to the Petitioner; writ petition and pending applications dismissed with clarification that the stay order dated 11.02.2025 stands vacated and the Government is at liberty (not directed) to take consequential steps in accordance with law. ¶21

Ashok Kumar Vs Union of India and Ors. — Delhi HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

¶21

Issue for consideration

Whether the Tribunal, while vacating the interim order dated 11.02.2025, could issue a positive direction to the Respondents to finalize integrated All India Seniority in the grade of Appraiser and consider eligible officers of Appraiser Cadre for the post of Assistant Commissioner of Customs & Indirect Taxes. +1 more

¶18

Court's answer

There cannot be any positive direction to the Respondents to finalize the seniority at this stage.

¶19

Ratio / Principle

The impugned order need not be interfered with to the extent it vacates the stay order dated 11.02.2025, particularly as the Tribunal gave specific reasons and the matter is now listed for final arguments.

¶19

Key takeaways

The Petitioner's subsequent prayer that the order dated 11.02.2025 be continued is wholly misconceived.ratio¶20
The writ petition and pending applications are dismissed, with clarification that the stay order dated 11.02.2025 stands vacated and the Government, though not directed, is at liberty to take consequential steps in accordance with law.ratio¶21

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Writ petition dismissed. Challenging the CAT, Principal Bench order dated 12.01.2026 (M.A. No. 2280/2025 in O.A. No. 4762/2024) which vacated the interim order dated 11.02.2025 and directed finalization of integrated All India Seniority in the Appraiser grade and consideration of Appraiser Cadre officers for Assistant Commissioner (Customs & Indirect Taxes), the Court held: (i) vacation of the stay need not be interfered with, specific reasons having been given by the Tribunal and the matter listed for final arguments; (ii) no positive direction can issue to the Respondents to finalize seniority at this interlocutory stage; (iii) the Petitioner's prayer to continue the 11.02.2025 order was wholly misconceived. The Government was left at liberty, though not directed, to take consequential steps in accordance with law.

¶1

$~88

¶2

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

¶3

W.P.(C) 1389/2026

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ASHOK KUMAR .....Petitioner Through: Counsel (Appearance not given)

¶5

versus

¶6

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS .....Respondents Through: Mr. Puneet Dhawan, SPC with Mr. Rahul Kumar Sharma, Govt Pleader for UOI. Mr. Ankur Chhibber, Mr. Anshuman Mehrotra and Mr. Nikunj Arora, Advs. for R-47.

¶7

CORAM:

¶8

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KSHETARPAL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN

¶9

O R D E R % 02.02.2026

¶10

CM APPL. 6835/2026 [exemption from filing certified copy of the impugned order]

¶11

CM APPL. 6836/2026 [exemption from filing typed copies of dim, small font size and illegible documents]

¶12

Allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

¶13

Applications stand disposed of.

¶14

W.P.(C) 1389/2026 & CM APPL. 6834/2026

¶15

Through the present writ petition, the Petitioner assails correctness of the order dated 12.01.2026, passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, in M.A. No. 2280/2025 in O.A. No. 4762/2024.

¶16

This is a digitally signed order.

¶17

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 05/02/2026 at 12:33:23

¶18

Learned counsel representing the Petitioner submitted that while vacating the interim order passed on 11.02.2025, the learned Tribunal could not have issued positive direction to the Respondents to finalize integrated All India Seniority, in the grade of Appraiser and consider eligible officers of Appraiser Cadre to the post of Assistant Commissioner of Customs & Indirect Taxes in accordance with law.

¶19

This Court, after considering the aforesaid contention, put the aforesaid proposal to the learned counsel representing the Respondents. This Court is of considered view that the impugned order to the extent of vacating the stay order passed on 11.02.2025 need not be interfered, specially when specific reason has been given by the Tribunal and the matter is now listed for final arguments. However, there cannot be any positive direction to the Respondent to finalize the seniority at this stage.

¶20

Learned counsel representing the Petitioner at this stage submits that the order passed on 11.02.2025 should be continued. 7. The subsequent prayer made by the learned counsel representing the Petitioner is wholly misconceived after the submissions have been considered.

¶21

Hence, the present writ petition along with the pending applications is dismissed with clarification that the stay order dated 11.02.2025 stands vacated and the Government is though not directed but is at liberty to take consequential steps in accordance with law.

¶22

ANIL KSHETARPAL, J

¶23

AMIT MAHAJAN, J

¶24

FEBRUARY 2, 2026/ ‘KDK’

¶25

This is a digitally signed order.

¶26

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 05/02/2026 at 12:33:23

Ashok Kumar v. Union of India and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Ashok Kumar v. Union of India and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

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What the court decided

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Procedural history

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