Delhi HC imposes Rs 20K cost on Centre for concealing facts in Sameer Wankhede promotion case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on the Union government for concealing facts in its review petition challenging a previous ruling that upheld the promotion of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and former NCB officer Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede.

Dismissing the Centre’s review plea, a Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain deprecated the conduct of the government and said, “We expect that the petitioner as a State would disclose all facts truthfully before filing the petition. For this, we dismiss the present review petition with a cost of Rs 20,000.”

The matter arose from a direction issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in December 2024, asking the Union government to open the sealed cover containing Wankhede’s promotion details. The CAT had ruled that if the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) recommended his name, he should be promoted to the post of Additional Commissioner with effect from January 2021.

The Delhi High Court upheld the CAT’s order on August 28, after which the government filed a review petition claiming that departmental proceedings had been initiated against Wankhede between the reservation of judgment on July 29 and its pronouncement on August 28.

In its decision, the Justice Chawla-led Bench noted that the Centre had failed to disclose an order passed by the CAT in August 2025, which stayed the departmental proceedings against Wankhede. The Delhi High Court further observed that the CAT’s order had been issued prior to the filing of the review petition, yet the Union government chose not to bring it on record.

Wankhede came into public attention for his role in the 2021 Cordelia Cruise drug case, which also allegedly involved actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan.

Wankhede was later accused of misconduct and faced allegations of possessing a forged caste certificate. The Delhi High Court has now ordered the Centre to implement the CAT’s order and grant promotion to Wankhede, if recommended by the UPSC, within four weeks.

IANS