F or years, officers within India’s Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have quietly seethed at the glass ceiling above them; one made not of merit, but of deputation. Top posts in CRPF, BSF, CISF and other forces were long dominated by Indian Police Service (IPS) officers parachuted in from state cadres, while equally capable insiders watched their career graphs stagnate.

The Supreme Court’s latest refusal to review its May 2025 ruling, which ordered a phased, two-year reduction of IPS deputations to CAPFs, is more than a bureaucratic adjustment. It’s a long-overdue course correction. The court’s message to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is unambiguous: build institutions, not dependencies.

The ruling recognises CAPFs as Organised Group-A Services, giving their officers long-denied

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