CAT holds disciplinary proceedings against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede legally unsustainable

New Delhi [India], January 20 (ANI): The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Principal Bench, New Delhi, has held that the disciplinary proceedings initiated against IRS officer Sameer Wankhede are legally unsustainable, as the charge memorandum issued to him was founded on material drawn from a preliminary enquiry whose use had already been barred by judicial orders.
The Tribunal ruled that the authorities acted contrary to settled law and binding court directions by proceeding on such material.
In its order pronounced on January 19, 2026, the CAT examined the challenge mounted by Wankhede to the Charge Memorandum dated August 18, 2025. The Tribunal found that the charge sheet was "premised upon" evidence and findings of a Special Enquiry Team (SET), even though both the Tribunal and constitutional courts had earlier clarified that findings of a preliminary enquiry cannot be relied upon to indict an officer in departmental proceedings.
The Bench observed that once courts had restrained the use of SET material for disciplinary action, the respondents were duty-bound to comply with those directions.
Proceeding on the same evidentiary foundation, the Tribunal held, amounted to a mechanical exercise without independent application of mind and was violative of service jurisprudence and principles of fairness.
The Tribunal took note of a series of earlier proceedings in which it had already directed that evidence recorded during the preliminary enquiry, including the SET report, could not be used in any departmental inquiry against the officer.
These directions had also been noticed and reiterated by the Delhi High Court, which clarified that findings of a preliminary enquiry cannot form the basis of disciplinary charges.
Despite these clear pronouncements, the respondents issued the impugned charge memorandum relying on the very same material. The CAT held that such an approach not only undermined judicial discipline but also rendered the disciplinary action legally untenable.
The Tribunal further noted that the material relied upon in the charge memorandum was already the subject matter of proceedings pending before the Bombay High Court, where interim protection had been granted to Wankhede. Initiating and continuing departmental proceedings on the same basis, while the matter was sub judice, was found to be improper.
In view of these findings, the CAT confirmed its earlier interim order staying the departmental enquiry and restrained the authorities from proceeding further pursuant to the impugned charge memorandum. It clarified that any future action against the officer must strictly adhere to the law and cannot, directly or indirectly, rely on evidence collected during the preliminary SET enquiry.
Wankhede, a 2008-batch IRS officer and former Zonal Director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, Mumbai, has faced multiple proceedings arising from high-profile narcotics investigations. Over the years, several courts have intervened to clarify the limits on the use of preliminary enquiry material against him. (ANI)