(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Delhi High Court on Friday imposed a ₹20,000 fine on the central government for withholding crucial facts in its petition regarding the promotion of IRS officer and former NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

The government had sought a review of the court's 28 August order, which directed it to determine the UPSC's recommendation on Wankhede's promotion and grant him the rank of Additional Commissioner effective 1 January 2021, if recommended.

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A bench of Delhi High Court justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain said it expects that the Centre will disclose all the facts truthfully before filing the plea.

The HC had upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal's December 2024 order, which had directed the government to open the sealed cover pertaining to the IRS officer's promotion.

The government had claimed that Wankhede's case was placed in a sealed cover due to the cases lodged against him.

Wankhede, a 2008-batch Indian Revenue Service officer, made headlines for allegedly demanding ₹25 crore from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's family by threatening to implicate his son Aryan Khan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case during his tenure in the NCB Mumbai in 2021.

On Friday, Centre's counsel Ashish Dixit argued that before the 28 August order, the competent authority had issued a charge memorandum and initiated regular departmental proceedings against Wankhede on 18 August, thereby legitimately invoking the "sealed cover" procedure.

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The Centre's plea was opposed by advocate T Singhdev, representing Wankhede, who sought dismissal of the petition on the ground that it was a tactic to harass the officer.

The HC bench dismissed the review petition while deprecating the government for concealing material facts from the court.

"We have considered the submissions made by the counsel for the parties. Admittedly, as on the date of departmental promotion committee (DPC) and date of order passed by the tribunal on December 17, 2024, as affirmed by us, the cause for considering the recommendations of DPC in a sealed cover had not been met. In fact they were also not met on July 29 when we had reserved our judgment in the writ," the bench said while dictating the order.

It further said, "However, we strongly deprecate the petitioner from concealing from this court the order dated August 27, 2025 wherein the petitioner has been restrained from proceeding with the further departmental inquiry against the respondent.

"We would expect that the petitioner, being the government, as a state, would disclose all facts truthfully before us while filing the writ. For the above-mentioned petition, we dismiss the petition with costs of ₹20,000 to be deposited with the Delhi High Court Advocate Welfare Fund."

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