IN RE: PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL REPORTS OF THE OFFICERS OF THE INDIAN FOREST SERVICE versus

Citation: [2025] 5 S.C.R. 1449 · Decided: 21-05-2025 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: BHUSHAN RAMKRISHNA GAVAI
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Judgment (excerpt)

[2025] 5 S.C.R. 1449 : 2025 INSC 748
In Re: Performance Appraisal Reports of the Officers of the 
Indian Forest Service
[(I.A. No. 172422 of 2024 with I.A. No(s). 172425, 172427,  
172429, 179359, 290215, 290217 of 2024 and 
I.A. No(s). 105862, 105864 and 105865 of 2025) 
In 
(Writ Petition (C) No. 202 of 1995)]
In Re: T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad 
v. 
Union of India and Others
In the Matter of: 
Gaurav Kumar Bansal
... Applicant 
Unnamatla Prakasham
... Applicant 
Indian Forest Service Association (State Unit) ... Applicant
21 May 2025
[B.R. Gavai, CJI* and Augustine George Masih, J.]
Issue for Consideration
Issue arose as to whether the officers in the Indian Administrative 
Service-IAS would be a “reporting authority”, “reviewing authority” 
and “accepting authority” of the officers working in the Indian 
Forest Service-IFS.
Headnotes†
Service law – Performance Appraisal Report – Writing 
Performance Appraisal Report of the officers belonging to 
the Indian Forest Service-IFS by the officers in the Indian 
Administrative Service-IAS – Propriety:
Held: For writing Annual Confidential Reports-ACRs, in relation 
to officers up to the rank of Additional Principal Chief Conservator 
of Forest-APCCF, the “reviewing authority” or “reporting authority” 
should be the immediate superior authority-PCCF in the Forest 
Department – Thus, up to the APCCF, the “reporting authority” 
and the “reviewing authority” would be the person within the same 
department – It is only with regard to Principal Chief Conservator 
of Forests-PCCF that the “reporting authority” would be a person 
* Author
1450
[2025] 5 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
who was familiar with the work of PCCF and would be a person to 
whom he reports and who is superior to him in rank and hierarchy – 
Said “reporting authority” would be a person other than the one 
belonging to the service because there was no one superior to the 
PCCF within the service – Government Order dated 29.06.2024 
notified by the Government of Madhya Pradesh with regard to 
writing Performance Appraisal Report of the officers belonging to 
the IFS that before evaluating the performance of the Divisional 
Forest Officer (Territorial), Conservator or Chief Conservator of 
Forest (Reporting Authorities) will seek a note from the District 
Collector and before evaluating the performance of the Conservator 
of Forests and Chief Forest Conservator (Territorial), Additional 
Principal Chief Forest Conservator (Development) will seek a 
note from the Divisional Commissioner – Said G.O. in violation of 
the order passed by this Court in the present proceedings dated 
22.09.2000 –**Santosh Bharti’s case and is quashed and set 
aside – State of Madhya Pradesh to reframe the rules by strictly 
adhering to the directions issued in – **Santosh Bharti’s case, and 
as clarified by the MoEF and DoPT. [Paras 34, 37, 39, 41]
Case Law Cited
**Santosh Bharti v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2007) 15 SCC 
273 – relied on.
State of Haryana v. P.C. Wadhwa, IPS Inspector General of Police 
and Another [1987] 2 SCR 1030 : (1987) 2 SCC 602; State of 
Assam and Others v. Binod Kumar and Others [2024] 1 SCR 473 : 
(2024) 3 SCC 611 – referred to.
List of Acts
Constitution of India; Madhya Pradesh Government Business 
(Allocation) Rules; All-India Services Act, 1951; All-India Services 
(Confidential Rolls) Rules, 1970; All India Services (Confidential 
Rolls) Second Amendment Rules, 1970; All-India Services 
(Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007.
List of Keywords
Indian Administrative Service; “Reporting authority”; “Reviewing 
authority”; “Accepting authority”; Indian Forest Service; Performance 
Appraisal Report; Writing Performance Appraisal Report of the 
officers belonging to Indian Forest Service by the officers in 
the Indian Administrative Service; Annual Confidential Reports; 
[2025] 5 S.C.R. 
1451
In Re: Performance Appraisal Reports of the Officers 
of the Indian Forest Service
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest; Immediate 
superior authority; Forest Department; Principal Chief Conservator 
of Forests; Superior in rank and hierarchy; Government Order 
dated 29.06.2024; Divisional Forest Officer (Territorial); Conservator 
or Chief Conservator of Forest (Reporting Authorities); District 
Collector; Conservator of Forests and Chief Forest Conservator 
(Territorial); Divisional Commissioner; **Santosh Bharti’s case.
Case Arising From
INHERENT/ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Under Article 32 of The 
Const
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