CAPF General Administration Act, 2026 takes effect with Supreme Court challenge pending

The Ministry of Home Affairs has notified that the Central Armed Police Forces (General Administration) Act, 2026 came into force on Thursday, 8 October 2026, The Hindu, ANI and PTI reported. The notification says the Central government “hereby appoints the 08th day of October, 2026, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force”. It comes while the Act’s constitutional validity is under challenge in the Supreme Court.

What the Act provides

The Act sets a common legal framework for recruitment, promotion, deputation and other conditions of service of officers in the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Sashastra Seema Bal, according to PTI.

ANI and PTI reported that it fixes the share of senior posts filled by Indian Police Service (IPS) officers on deputation: 50% of Inspector General posts, at least 67% of Additional Director General posts, and all Special Director General and Director General posts. ANI said such postings were earlier governed by executive orders.

Parliament passed the Bill in April, ANI reported: the Rajya Sabha on 1 April and the Lok Sabha on 2 April. President Droupadi Murmu gave assent on 9 April, it said.

The court dispute

The Supreme Court ruled on 23 May 2025 that Group A officers of the CAPFs constitute “Organised Services” and directed the Centre to reduce IPS deputation to senior posts progressively, within an outer limit of two years, The Hindu reported. It also ordered a time-bound cadre review.

Serving officers, among them CRPF Assistant Commandant Bibhor Kumar Singh, have challenged the Act, The Hindu reported. The Tribune reported on 4 August that a group of about 3,000 officers asked the court to declare Sections 3 and 4 beyond the Constitution. Section 3 begins with a clause overriding court judgments and sets the reserved percentages. Section 4 lets the Union government amend the Act’s schedules by notification.

Separate contempt petitions allege that the 2025 judgment has not been fully implemented. According to The Hindu, the Home Secretary’s affidavit said 46 IPS officers had been brought on deputation to the CAPFs up to the Senior Administrative Grade since that judgment. The contempt petitioners told the court that the new Act did not cover several of its directions.

What happens next

On 30 September a Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that the contempt petitions and three writ petitions against the Act be heard together at 2 pm on 15 October 2026, The Hindu reported. The Solicitor General, appearing for the Centre, had sought two weeks to assist the court on whether the contempt proceedings could be taken up independently of the challenge to the Act.

The Home Ministry had not published a statement alongside the notification at the time of writing, and we could not retrieve the Gazette notification itself; the wording above is as quoted by The Hindu, ANI and PTI.