The Delhi High Court has dismissed the Central government’s plea challenging the Central Administrative Tribunal’s order to promote Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sameer Wankhede to the Joint Commissioner post of customs and indirect taxes, if found eligible.
The High Court’s decision came in the Union of India and Ors v Sameer Dnyandev Wankhede case. A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain directed to grant it with effect from January 2021, if his name is recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The proceedings before the CAT stemmed from an application filed by Wankhede after the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), constituted to consider the cases of eligible officers for regular promotion to JC, kept Wankhede’s recommendation in a sealed cover in March of the previous year.
As per reports, before the high court, the Centre’s counsel asserted that the CAT had overlooked the fact that cases against Wankhede were still pending with the CBI and ED.
However, opposing the petition, Wankhede’s counsel submitted that the CBI’s case was still at the investigation stage and that the filing of a chargesheet was far away.
Sameer Wankhede had arrested actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son, Aryan Khan, in 2021. He was then serving as the zonal director of the Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
After the incident, Wankhede came under scrutiny from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2023. It was related to a bribe case in which he was allegedly demanding a ₹25 crore bribe from Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not implicating Aryan Khan.
Who Is Sameer Wankhede?
Well, Sameer Wankhede, best known for his role as a former zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Mumbai, is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of the 2008 batch.
Served in the Customs department, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), he was later appointed to the NCB.
He was also posted at Mumbai airport earlier, where he, as per reports, exercised strict actions against celebrities and VIPs over undeclared valuables.
He gained national attention in 2020–21 during drug-related investigations linked to Bollywood, including the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and later the Aryan Khan cruise drugs case.
In 2022, Sameer was removed from the Aryan Khan case probe and in 2023, a case was registered against him by the CBI for allegedly demanding a bribe in the Aryan Khan case. However, Wankhede denied the charges and said he was being targeted for doing his duty.
Recently, the Delhi High Court ordered to promote an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer to the post of Joint Commissioner of customs and indirect taxes, if his name is recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
